Friday preview: Bovis Homes, UK Producer Prices

13th Jan 2011 16:45

With the bulk of the Christmas trading updates from major retailers out of the way, Friday looks set to be a quiet day, with results from Bovis Homes likely to be the most keenly anticipated corporate update.The company moved back into the black last year and was still sounding cautiously optimistic as recently as November. "Whilst there remains uncertainty concerning the near term direction of house prices, the fundamental demand and supply drivers of the housing market remain positive which should support volume and prices in the medium term," the group said in its interim statement.Bovis said in November it expects the average sales price of legal completions in 2010 will be around £160,000, up 3% from 2009's average sales price of £154,600, so Friday's trading update should reveal how accurate that prediction was.On the economic front, UK producer input prices for December are tipped to have risen 1.70% in December, after rising 0.90% in November. Output prices are expected to have risen 0.40%, versus November's 0.30% increase.The jump in the input prices index is likely to be due to rises in commodity prices, particularly food and oil. INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAlliance Pharma, Babcock International Group, Caffyns, Cropper (James), Electrocomponents, Kewill, Marks & Spencer Group, MDM Engineering Group Ltd. (DI), Northern 3 VCT, Severn Trent, Shanks Group, Telford Homes, UK Mail Group QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEYamana Gold Inc.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Price Index (GER) (07:00)Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (EU) (10:00)Trade Balance (EU) (10:00)Consumer Price Index (US) (13:30)Retail Sales (US) (13:30)Industrial Production (US) (14:15)Capacity Utilisation (US) (14:15)Business Inventories (US) (15:00)Q4JP Morgan Chase & CoGMSAdalta RealFINALSJP Morgan Chase & CoANNUAL REPORTNorthern AIM VCT, Southern Cross Healthcare GroupIMSSSmiths NewsEGMSTen AlpsAGMSSmiths NewsTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSBovis Homes Group, Hilton Food GroupUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSProducer Price Index (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAssociated British Foods, Baronsmead VCT, Baronsmead VCT 2, Group NBT, Unicorn AIM VCT