29th Nov 2018 12:11
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London on Thursday continued to rise on the wings of dovish comments late Wednesday by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.Miners were among the best performers in London as metal prices benefited from a resulting weaker dollar. Ashtead also was a star, after the rental equipment firm announced the promotion of its North American unit head to group chief executive. Meanwhile, Intu Properties was the worst performer in the FTSE 250, trading down 35% after a withdrawn takeover offer and news of a dividend cut.The FTSE 100 was up 17.87 points, or 0.3%, at 7,022.39 Thursday midday. The FTSE 250 was up 25.53 points, or 0.1%, at 18,665.26 and the AIM All-Share up 0.5% at 934.62.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.4% at 11,931.08, and the Cboe UK 250 flat at 16,777.00. The Cboe UK Small Companies was largely unchanged at 11,426.26."After a soaraway day for US markets off the back of Jerome Powell's speech, things are a little quieter for European markets. Indices this side of the Atlantic have nonetheless registered some gains, with miners underpinning the rally in London. The drop in the US dollar has provided some relief for commodity prices, most notably precious metals," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.Miners were among the FTSE 100's best performers, with Antofagasta up 4.7%, Glencore up 2.6% and Anglo American up 2.4%.Fed Chair Powell on Wednesday hinted that the pace of US interest rate rises could slow."Interest rates are still low by historical standards, and they remain just below the broad range of estimates of the level that would be neutral for the economy - that is, neither speeding up nor slowing down growth," Powell said Wednesday.His comments, perceived as dovish by markets, boosted stocks in the US overnight with the Dow Jones gaining 2.5%.However, Wall Street is set for a less spectacular start on Thursday with the Dow Jones called down 0.2%, the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Nasdaq pointed 0.4% lower. To come in Thursday's economic calendar, German inflation is at 1300 GMT and US core personal consumption expenditure, which is the US Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, is due at 1330 GMT. The minutes of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting held earlier in November will be released at 1900 GMT."Tonight's Fed minutes are likely to be fairly stale and not particularly reflective of current thinking, though it will be interesting if the change of tone that we heard this week is reflected in some of the discussions," said CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson.Already out, Germany's employment level in October hit a record high since reunification and the ILO jobless rate eased from the previous month. The Federal Statistical Office showed the adjusted ILO jobless rate eased to 3.3% in October from 3.4% in September, as employment grew by 1.2%, or 556,000 persons, year-on-year to over 45.1 million.Separately, the statistical office said that agreed earnings in Germany rose an average 3.7% year-on-year in the third quarter. Excluding extra payments, the increase was 2.7%.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 stock index in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.6% and 0.3% respectively at midday.Back on the London Stock Exchange, Ashtead was up 4.1%, after the equipment rental firm promoted the head of its North American unit to be the group's new chief executive.Chief Executive Officer Geoff Drabble will step down from his role with effect from May 1, 2019 and from the company on November 30, 2019. He will be replaced by current Chief Operating Officer Brendan Horgan, who is also chief executive of Sunbelt Rentals, Ashtead's North American business and its biggest earner.Intu Properties remained the standout loser in the FTSE 250 as it dived 35%.The shopping mall owner on Thursday saw its second suitor of 2018 walk away from making a takeover offer and warned it will substantially reduce its dividend. A consortium comprising Peel Group, Olayan Group and Brookfield Property Group had proposed a GBP2.85 billion takeover bid, with the deadline to make this offer formal on Friday. However, the group on Thursday decided against proceeding with the acquisition. "The consortium is highly appreciative of the cooperation shown by intu's board of directors and management team over the past six weeks. However, given the uncertainty around current macroeconomic conditions and the potential near-term volatility across markets, the consortium is not able to proceed with an offer within a timeframe which is manageable within the confines of the code timetable," the consortium said.Earlier this year, in April, UK peer Hammerson dropped its own GBP3.40 billion takeover bid for Intu, believing the deal was not in the interest of shareholders.Russ Mould, investment director at stockbroker AJ Bell, commented: "The fact both these prospective buyers and Hammerson, which abandoned its own merger plans earlier this year, took a good look at Intu and turned their noses up should ring big alarm bells with shareholders. The company is now left in a difficult position with too much debt, retail assets which would be difficult to sell, and the prospect of losing tenants."Intu, in its own statement on Thursday, said it remains "confident" in its commercial prospects but warned on its dividend.Intu said: "Given the heightened macroeconomic uncertainty and the reduced pool of potential buyers at present for UK shopping centres, asset disposals are expected to be challenging to deliver in the next few months. intu therefore intends to substantially reduce the payment of dividends in the short term, starting with the 2018 final dividend."The news weighed on the share price of peer Hammerson, down 4.9% at midday.Pub operator Greene King was up 5.3% as it reported a 3.2% rise in half-year profit on the back of good summer weather and the football World Cup.The Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk-headquartered company recorded pretax profit of GBP127.7 million for the 24 weeks to October 14, up from GBP123.7 million in the comparative year-ago period, on revenue of GBP1.05 billion and GBP1.03 billion, respectively.The strong momentum in Pub Company has been maintained since the period end with like-for-like sales up 2.9% after 30 weeks and Christmas bookings well ahead of last year, the company added. Engineer Senior fell 7.2% after JPMorgan cut its rating on the stock to Neutral from Overweight.Funeral services provider Dignity tumbled 16% after the UK Competition & Markets Authority said it is consulting on a major funerals probe because of concerns over large price hikesThe CMA is eyeing a potential market investigation reference and said it welcomes any views on the issues identified in its report by January 4.The CMA noted that the initial work indicates problems with the market that have led to above-inflation price rises for well over a decade - both for funeral director services and crematoria services.Though the CMA didn't name drop, the regulator highlighted that: "While some smaller funeral directors have sought to keep their prices low, other providers - the larger chains in particular - have implemented policies of consistently high year-on-year price increases."
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