4th Apr 2016 07:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened flat Monday, with Anglo American leading the gainers in the FTSE 100 after selling its 70% stake in an Australian coal mine.
The FTSE 100 was 0.71 point higher at 6,146.76 points. In Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris was down 0.7% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt down 0.4%
Anglo American was up 2.0%, after the blue-chip miner said it has agreed to sell its 70% stake in the Foxleigh metallurgical coal mine in Queensland, Australia. No financial details on the sale were disclosed, but Anglo said it has sold the stake to a consortium led by Taurus Fund Management.
Foxleigh is an open-cut coal mine which produces high-quality pulverised coal injection coal, Anglo said. It is located in the Bowen Basin in Queensland and delivered 1.86 million tonnes of production attributable to Anglo in 2015.
Gas distribution and production company Centrica was up 0.5%. The group is in early talks over a tie-up with the oil and gas production arm of Engie, the French state-backed energy giant, the Sunday Times reported without saying where it got the information.
The report said that Centrica is "understood" to have hired investment bank JP Morgan for advice. Engie and Centrica co-own Cygnus, one of the largest gas fields in the North Sea.
The FTSE 250 was flat at 16,843.11 points and the AIM All-Share was up 0.1% at 712.55.
Mid-cap wealth manager Brewin Dolphin was up 0.8% after being upgraded to Buy from Hold by N+1 Singer.
Weir Group was up 0.7% after Nomura upgraded the engineering stock to Buy from Neutral. Meanwhile, the Japanese broker cut IMI to Neutral from Buy, sending its shares down 1.8%.
Polymetal International said it has reached a binding agreement with a subsidiary of multi-commodities miner and trading house Glencore to acquire Orion Minerals, the holding company for the Komarovskoye gold deposit in Kazakhstan.
FTSE 250-listed Polymetal will pay USD100.0 million in cash to Kazzinc, a Glencore-owned business, to buy the site. Kazzinc also will receive a deferred consideration linked to future production from the deposit.
Shares in Polymetal were down 0.4%.
Shares in Ryanair Holdings were up 0.8%. The Irish budget airline reported growth in customer traffic and load factor in March year-on-year. The group said passenger traffic grew by more than a quarter to 8.5 million in March from 6.6 million in March 2015, as load factor rose to 94% from 90%. Rolling annual traffic to March grew by 18% to 106.4 million customers.
In London Main Market, Chemring Group was up 6.5%. The group said the implementation of its ammunition contract with a customer in the Middle East has started, with a letter of credit in place and an advance payment now received.
Chemring, which makes countermeasures such as flares and decoys that military aircraft use against missile attack, as well as sensors and electronics used in military vehicles, was forced into a profit warning in October 2015 due to delays on the ammunition contract, which was signed in September last year.
On Monday, however, Chemring said in-house and supply-chain production has started on the contract, with initial revenue to be recognised in the second quarter of its current financial year to the end of October. Chemring expects the deal to make a significant contribution to its results in the 2016 financial year.
The oil price was hit Friday by the news that Saudi Arabia will freeze crude production only if Iran and others follow suit. Bloomberg reported that the kingdom's deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, signalled in an interview that, if any country raises output, Saudi Arabia will follow suit.
Oil producers are scheduled to meet in Doha in Qatar this month to complete an accord capping output. Iran is expected to the attend the talks but has ruled out limiting oil supply as it aims to regain market share after sanctions were lifted in January.
Brent stood at USD38.59 a barrel at the London equities close on Friday, but has declined further to lows not touched in nearly a month. Brent was quoted at USD38.28 a barrel shortly after the open Monday. Analysts believe that if Brent were to touch the technical support of USD38, it could easily add to its losses.
In Asia on Monday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 5.1%. The Hong Kong and Shanghai markets are closed Monday for the Ching Ming Festival celebrations in China.
In the economic calendar Monday, UK construction PMI is due at 0930 BST. The eurozone unemployment rate and producer price index both are at 1000 BST. In the US, the ISM New York index is due at 1445 BST, while US labor market conditions and factory orders are both expected at 1500 BST.
By Daniel Ruiz; [email protected]
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
RYA.LAnglo AmericanCentricaBRW.LWeir GroupPOLY.LChemringIMI