20th Jun 2016 07:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - The pound and London share prices surged Monday morning at the start of a crucial week for the UK, after opinion polls swung back towards the country remaining in the European Union.
A poll by Survation on behalf of The Mail on Sunday showed Remain on 45% to 42% for the Leave side, ahead of Thursday's referendum, a swing from the 45% to 42% lead the outfit had showed for the Leave camp in its previous poll last week.
The changes from the latest FTSE index review will be in place from Monday. This includes generic-drug maker Hikma Pharmaceuticals returning to the FTSE 100, having been relegated to the FTSE 250 in March, to replace Inmarsat, the satellite communications company, which joined the blue-chip index only a year ago.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 2.3% at 6,157.45
FTSE 250: up 2.0% at 16,749.20
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.5% at 717.77
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Hang Seng: up 1.8% at 20,535.74
Nikkei 225: closed up 2.3% at 15,965.30
DJIA: closed down 0.3% at 17,675.16
S&P 500: closed down 0.3% at 2,071.22
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GBP: up at USD1.4568 (USD1.4264)
EUR: up at USD1.1341 (USD1.1248)
GOLD: down at USD1,283.55 per ounce (USD1,286.70)
OIL (Brent): up at USD49.80 a barrel (USD48.39)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)
11:00 Germany Buba monthly report
13:30 Canada wholesale sales
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UK Prime Minister David Cameron issued an impassioned appeal to voters not to give up on the European Union but to "stay and fight" Britain's corner in the way that had made the country great in the past. As campaigning in the referendum resumed after being suspended following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox, the Prime Minister said it would be a "tragedy" if the country voted to leave the EU, wrecking future job prospects, on the basis of the false claims of the Out camp. Appearing in front of a BBC Question Time audience in Milton Keynes, he said a vote for Brexit on Thursday would be "irreversible" as he urged people to "think very carefully" before casting their votes.
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MPs are returning to Westminster to pay tribute to Cox who was killed as she prepared to hold a constituency surgery. Commons Speaker John Bercow agreed to the recall of the House to allow members to commemorate a colleague described as "perfect" by her family. The Lords are also returning. Parliament had been in recess to allow MPs to concentrate on campaigning in the final days running up to the European Union referendum on Thursday.
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The man accused of killing Cox said his name was "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain," as he appeared in a London court on Saturday, the Press Association reported. Thomas Mair, 52, from Birstall in West Yorkshire in the north of England appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court for shooting and stabbing Cox, 41, to death on Thursday as she was working in her Batley and Spen constituency, in which Birstall is located. West Yorkshire police said they had charged Mair "with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon." Police had said earlier they were investigating Mair for links to right-wing extremist groups and were also looking into claims he was mentally disturbed.
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The average asking price for a house in the UK was up 0.8% on month in May, property tracking website Rightmove said - coming in at GBP310,471. That follows a 0.4% increase in April. On a yearly basis, house prices advanced 5.5% - slowing from 7.8% in the previous month. Individually, house prices in London dipped 0.2% on month, while every other area saw an increase.
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Germany's producer prices declined at a slower pace in May, figures from Destatis showed. Producer prices dropped 2.7% in May from last year, slower than the 3.1% decrease in April and a 2.8% drop forecast by economists. Producer prices have been falling since August 2013. The 3.1% decrease registered in April was the biggest since January 2010.
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Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of JPY40.7 billion in May, the Ministry of Finance said. That missed forecasts for a surplus of JPY70.0 billion following the JPY823.5 billion surplus in April. Exports were down 11.3% on year, missing forecasts for a fall of 10.0% following the 10.1% decline in the previous month. Imports skidded an annual 13.8% - matching forecasts after plummeting 23.3% a month earlier.
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Italy's main opposition party, the populist Five Star Movement, was recognized as the landslide winner of mayoral elections in Rome, leaving Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his Democratic Party licking their wounds. Nearly 9 million Italians were eligible to vote in Sunday's run-off mayoral contests in more than 100 cities after inconclusive first ballots held two weeks ago. Several big cities were involved, but the most important race was in Rome.
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Turkey denied reports from a monitoring group that its guards had killed eight Syrian civilians, including two women and four children, while they were trying to cross the Turkish border from their war-torn country.
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Egypt's deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was sentenced to 40 years in prison on charges of leaking secret state documents to Qatar when he was in office. The decision was made by the Cairo Criminal Court which announced two separate jail terms of 25 years (under Egyptian law, a life term is 25 years) and 15 years against Morsi on different counts. Two former aides to Morsi were sentenced to life terms. The court also confirmed preliminary death sentences given last month to six defendants in the same case.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERENBERG CUTS NEXT PRICE TARGET TO 4800 (7300) PENCE - 'HOLD'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Property developer Hammerson said it has sold its Thurrock Shopping Park in Essex to investment manager TIAA Henderson Real Estate for GBP93.0 million, as part of its GBP300.0 million disposal programme. Hammerson said the sale price represents a net initial yield of 5.3% and is "moderately" below the book value as at December 31. The shopping park, north east of London, comprises of two retail schemes, with a net internal area of 25,500 square metres.
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GlaxoSmithKline said it has received positive top-line results from the phase three study conducted on its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment. The drugmaker said its fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol triple combination therapy met its two co-primary endpoints. This included showing statistically significant improvements against a twice-day dose of Symbicort, a rival treatment, in both lung function and health-related quality of life.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Circassia Pharmaceuticals said it was disappointed by results from its phase III cat allergy study, as there was a "dramatic" placebo effect, and said it will now be considering the implications of the results across its allergy portfolio. Circassia said that in its study both treatment regimens and the placebo "greatly and equally" reduced subjects' combined allergy symptom and rescue medicated use score from the baseline, meaning the score in both the active treatment groups and the placebo groups were "not significantly different". Imperial Innocations Group holds a 9.3% stake in Circassia and said that, while the results are "disappointing", that it continues "to be supportive long-term shareholders in Circassia".
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Electra Private Equity said Kate Barker and Francesca Barnes have both stepped down from its board with immediate effect. Barker joined the board of the private-equity investment firm in 2010 and was chairman of its remuneration and nomination committee and senior independent director. She had been interim chair of the group until May, when Neil Johnson took over. Barnes joined the board in March 2013 and was the chairman of the valuations committee. The changes to the board follow the news in late May that Edward Bramson, the activist investor who had called for change at Electra, had been named unpaid interim chief executive.
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Instrumentation and controls manufacturer Spectris said it has agreed a USD22.5 million deal to acquire US-based Capstone Technology. Capstone provides software services to a range of process industries, including pulp and paper, chemicals, utilities, oil and gas and the food and beverages sector. The business, based in the state of Washington, will be integrated into Spectris's In-Line Instrumentation division.
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Business-to-business media company Ascentical said it is trading in line with expectations for 2016. The company, which will join the FTSE 250 index on Monday following its February float in London, briefly said trading for the first half to the end of June is in line with its expectations. Ascential, which owns the Draper's fashion trade magazine and the Cannes Lions advertising festival, is hosting an investor event at the Cannes Lions festival on Monday.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Majestic Wine reported a drop in profit in its recently ended financial year due to costs associated with its transformation plan and acquisition of Naked Wines, but said it is on track to meet its three-year target as it recorded strong growth in revenue. The wine retailer said its pretax profit in the year ended March 28 dropped to GBP4.7 million from GBP18.4 million the year before, even as revenue rose to GBP402.1 million from GBP284.5 million. Like-for-like sales at Majestic Retail grew by 4.8% in the year, which is the division's first positive performance in four years.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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A deal between Iran and US aviation giant Boeing for the purchase of 100 aircraft is close, said Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, in an interview. The contract has already been drawn up, but it is awaiting approval from the US Treasury Department, Abedzadeh said in the daily Iran. In addition to the purchase of the new Boeing aircraft, Iran has also ordered 118 Airbus jets as part of plans to modernize its fleet.
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Credit Suisse Group placed five employees on leave while it conducts an internal investigation, Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag reported, citing internal sources. The five worked on Credit Suisse's Israel desk, focusing on initial public offerings for Israeli technology companies, Schweiz am Sonntag reported. The investigation into the employees, one of whom held a managerial position, is linked to possible breaches of US tax laws by Israelis, the newspaper reported.
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German cement producer HeidelbergCement said it has received competition approvals for closing its merger deal with Italcementi, after reaching a deal with the US Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC said Friday that HeidelbergCement and Italian producer Italcementi have agreed to divest a cement plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia and up to 11 cement distribution terminals in six other states to settle FTC charges that their proposed USD4.2 billion merger would likely harm competition in five regional markets for cement in the US.
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Volkswagen will submit its USD10 billion plan this month to fix a half-million emissions-cheating cars or get them off US roads even though it is awaiting regulators' sign-off on how to retrofit the vehicles, Bloomberg reported citing a person familiar with the matter. About USD6.5 billion will go to car owners and USD3.5 billion to the US government and California regulators.
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LG Electronics is looking at home appliance acquisitions to fuel its global expansion and withstand a slowing smartphone market, Bloomberg reported. The company will probably focus on business-to-business targets, such as component makers, the report quoted Jo Seong-Jin, president of LG's home appliance division, as saying in an interview. LG reportedly is considering an expansion of its production footprint, which already includes plants in 11 countries from South Korea and China to Turkey and Mexico. The company may increase its investment in Vietnam and hasn't ruled out establishing factories elsewhere in North America as well as Brazil and South Africa.
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Monday's Shareholder Meetings
Electrical Geodesics
Microsaic Systems
Silence Therapeutics
Rasmala
ValiRx
Ascent Resources
DRS Data & Research Services
CEPS
Gusbourne
NetDimensions
Premier Technical Services
Tarsus Group
Management Consulting Group
Bioquell (approval of tender offer)
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By Tom Waite; [email protected]; @thomaslwaite
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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