14th Mar 2019 17:12
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended higher on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 rising for a fourth-straight session as Parliament gets set to vote on whether to delay Brexit if no deal can be agreed before the March 29 deadline.The FTSE 100 index closed up 26.24 points, or 0.4%, at 7,185.43. The FTSE 250 ended up 102.97 points, or 0.5%, at 19,283.06, and the AIM All-Share closed up 3.93 points, or 0.4% at 913.18.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.6% at 12,138.58, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.2% at 17,151.20, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.1% at 11,119.81.In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 0.8%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.1%. "The FTSE extended its winning streak into a fourth session. Financials cheered the House of Commons voting to take a no deal Brexit off the table, whilst oil majors rallied on the back of stronger oil prices. The pound easing off nine-month highs, reached in the previous session, also offered support to the FTSE," said City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta. On the London Stock Exchange, TUI closed up 3.7% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the Anglo-German travel company to Overweight from Equal Weight saying its low share price offers investors an attractive entry point, and the bank thinks it could benefit from a softer Brexit.At the other end of the large cap index, Anglo American ended as the worst performer, down 3.6% after the stock went ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout. In the FTSE 250, Marshalls ended the best performer, up 7.2% after the paving stones maker hiked its dividend 18% after 2018 profit and revenue grew ahead of its market, with 2019 also showing "strong" trading to date.In 2018, pretax profit widened 21% to GBP62.9 million from GBP52.1 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 14% to GBP491.0 million from GBP430.2 million the year before. Marshalls proposed a 8.00 pence per share final dividend, up 18% from 6.80p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 18% to 12.00p from 10.20p the year before. Marshalls also proposed a 4.00p per share supplementary dividend, in line with the year prior. In 2019, Marshalls emphasised it had experienced a "strong trading start" with revenue 16% higher in the first two months of the year.Cineworld closed up 3.8% after the movie theatre operator's profit more than doubled on revenue that spiked significantly, driven by the acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group in the US.For 2018, the cinema chain reported annual profit of USD349.0 million, up from USD155.1 million a year ago. Revenue jumped to USD4.12 billion from USD1.15 billion a year prior as admissions rose to 272.6 million from 103.8 million. On a proforma basis, reflecting the company's US performance if Regal been consolidated for the whole of 2018 and 2017, revenue increased 7.2%. Cineworld upped its annual payout by 18% to 15 US cents per year after proposing a final 10.15 cents dividend.At the other end of the midcaps, Just Group ended as the worst performer, down 13% after the retirement financial services firm sank to a loss in 2018, citing the uncertainty caused by Brexit and scrapped its dividend. After the market close, Just Group said it had completed the GBP75 million placing to strengthen its capital base to "support its new business franchise and maintain its focus on growing profits".The company said it has placed 94.0 million shares at a price of 80 pence each, representing a 6.7% discount to the middle market price. Turning to results for 2018, Just Group's net premium revenue rose to GBP2.71 billion from GBP2.43 billion, but the company sank to a pretax loss of GBP85.5 million from a GBP181.3 profit million the year before. The company added it has considered it "appropriate" not to pay a dividend for 2018, and will look to recommence payouts in 2019 at a "rebased" level of approximately one third of the 3.72p paid out in 2017.The pound was quoted at USD1.3277 at the London equities close, marginally higher compared to USD1.3215 at the close Wednesday. Sterling touched a nine-month high of USD1.3331 in morning trade. "Given that sterling pushed higher yesterday after MPs voted to rule out no deal, some traders might have already priced in an extension," noted CMC Markets analyst David Madden. The UK will enter a "sustained period of uncertainty" if MPs back a long extension to the Brexit process, Theresa May's deputy has claimed.Cabinet Office minister David Lidington said MPs would be allowed to vote for their preferred outcome in a two-week period after next week's European Council meeting should the Government fail to secure a Brexit deal and short extension.His offer sought to prevent a further damaging defeat in the Commons, which could result in MPs taking control of the Brexit process.UK members of parliament due to vote later in the evening on delaying Brexit after rejecting the idea of leaving the EU without a deal on Wednesday. Analysts at Capital Economics said: "The vote on Wednesday did not take a no deal completely off the table, as it was not legally binding and has no effect on Article 50 - which is a matter of EU law. As such, there is still a risk that the UK will leave the EU without a deal on March 29, especially since this is the default outcome if, by then, no deal has been agreed, an Article 50 extension has not been approved by the EU, or Article 50 has not been revoked altogether."In fact, according to bookmakers' odds, investors still assign a probability of around 13% to this outcome. What's more, we think that there is a non-negligible risk that an Article 50 extension would eventually result in a no-deal Brexit, particularly if the extension is only for a few months."Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he was surprised how badly Brexit has been handled and warned that another referendum would be "unfair".Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Irish premier Leo Varadkar, Trump said Brexit was "tearing a lot of countries apart".The president, who earlier set out his hopes for a "large scale" US-UK trade deal, added that "I'm not sure anybody knows" what was happening with Brexit."It's a very complex thing right now, it's tearing a country apart, it's actually tearing a lot of countries apart and it's a shame it has to be that way but I think we will stay right in our lane," Mr Trump said.The euro stood at USD1,1301 at the European equities close, flat against USD1.1305 late Wednesday, after stable inflation readings from Germany, final data from Destatis showed.Inflation based on the harmonized index of consumer prices for Germany, calculated for European purposes, remained stable at 1.7% for a second straight month in February, in line with the flash estimate.The consumer price index rose 1.5% year-on-year in February, following a 1.4% rise in January. The latest figure was slightly smaller than the 1.6% flash estimate. Inflation has been slowing since November, when it peaked at 2.3%.Stocks in New York were marginally higher at the London equities close, though gains were hindered by concerns of a delay in trade talks between the United States and China.The DJIA was up 0.2%, while the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq Composite were both up 0.1%.Concerns about a potential trade deal between the US and China reemerged after a report from Bloomberg said a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping has been pushed back.Citing three people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said the meeting to sign an agreement to end the US-China trade war won't occur this month and is more likely to happen in April at the earliest.The report from Bloomberg comes after Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he is in "no rush" to complete a trade deal with China.Brent oil was quoted at USD67.32 a barrel at the London equities close, marginally higher than USD67.22 at the close Wednesday. The North Sea benchmark hit an four-month high of USD68.12 in early trade buoyed by ongoing supply cuts led by OPEC and US sanctions against major oil producing nations Venezuela and Iran.In Venezuela, oil production and exports have been disrupted by a political and economic crisis that has caused massive blackouts and supply shortages.Gold was quoted at USD1,295.47 an ounce at the London equities close, down from USD1,308.09 late Wednesday.The economic events calendar on Friday has inflation readings from Italy and the eurozone at 1000 GMT.The UK corporate calendar on Friday has full year results from Wagamana, Chiquito and Frankie & Benny's restaurant chain owner Restaurant Group. There is also half year results from Tim Martin founded pub chain JD Wetherspoon and trading statements from housebuilder Berkeley Group and Anglo-South African financial services company Investec.
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