31st Jan 2020 08:44
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened mixed on Friday with Hargreaves Lansdown weighing on the FTSE 100, while Aston Martin gave the FTSE 250 a boost after Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll threw the luxury carmaker a financial lifeline.
The FTSE 100 index was down 22.90 points, or 0.3%, at 7,359.77. Since the week began, the index is down 2.7%. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 90.76, or 0.4%, at 21,382.64. The AIM All-Share index was flat at 952.15.
The Cboe UK 100 index was 0.1% lower at 12,493.91. The Cboe 250 was up 0.2% at 19,289.02, and the Cboe Small Companies flat at 12,452.98.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.2% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was 0.3% higher.
On the London Stock Exchange, Hargreaves Lansdown was the worst blue-chip performer, down 4.6% despite the fund supermarket reporting a strong set of interim results.
Hargreaves Lansdown said the first half of its financial year was another period of growth despite facing market challenges, which included the demise of the Neil Woodford-led investment funds that Hargreaves had championed.
For the six months to December 31, revenue was up 9% to GBP257.9 million from GBP236.4 million last year and pretax profit rose 12% to GBP171.1 million from GBP153.4 million. In addition, Hargreaves Lansdown reported a 22% increase in assets under administration to GBP105.2 billion from GBP85.9 billion the year before.
The company raised its interim dividend 9% to 11.2 pence from 10.3p.
In the FTSE 250, Aston Martin Lagonda Holdings was the standout performer, up 27% at 511.80 pence after the DB10 carmaker agreed to a series of investments totalling GBP500 million, including GBP182 million from a consortium led by Formula 1 racing team owner Stroll.
Stroll - who bought the Force India racing team in 2018, changing its name to Racing Point - will become Aston Martin's executive chair as part of the investment, with Penny Hughes stepping aside.
Aston Martin will place 45.6 million new ordinary shares at a price of 400 pence per share to raise the GBP182 million, which will be acquired by the consortium. The company listed in London in October 2018 at a price of 1,900p.
This will then be followed by an underwritten rights issue to raise GBP318 million, which will take place after the release of the company's annual results. The Stroll consortium is expected to partake in the rights issue, taking its total investment to GBP235 million.
Britvic was up 3.0% after the soft drinks maker said it made a robust start to the financial year and is confident of achieving full-year expectations.
For the first quarter to December 31, Britvic posted revenue of GBP369.8 million, up 4.9% from the first quarter last year. Britvic added that it remains in discussions with Refresco over the potential sale of assets in France and was confident that the transaction will complete later in 2020.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.0%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closed down 0.4%. The Shanghai market remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
China's manufacturing activity slipped in January, official data showed, as the country grapples with the coronavirus outbreak.
Official figures released showed that the purchasing managers' index for manufacturing, an early gauge of factory activity, came in at 50.0, down slightly from 50.2 in the month before. A reading above 50 indicates the sector is expanding while below 50 shows a contraction.
Japan's industrial production rose for the first time in three months in December, while the unemployment rate was unchanged, the government said.
Industrial production climbed 1.3% from the previous month, beating the median forecast of a 0.7% increase by analysts surveyed by the Nikkei Business Daily newspaper.
The government also reported that Japan's unemployment rate was flat at 2.2% in December.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3140 Friday morning, up from USD1.3102 at the London equities close Thursday.
After a tumultuous period since the European Union referendum in June 2016, both politically and economically, the UK on Friday will formally leave the EU at 2300 GMT and immediately enter an 11-month transition period.
"In terms of Brexit, our attention is fixed on March 3 and the start of EU-UK trade talks. Without doubt these talks represent the chief risk event for sterling and for UK equities going into the rest of 2020. Sentiment on the pound could sour quickly if negotiations between the UK and EU falter once they get underway. Indeed traders should be prepared for a troubled, rocky path for the talks and therefore expect significant headline risk for the pound in the coming months," said Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson.
The euro was quoted at USD1.1027 Friday morning, flat from USD1.1028 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY109.03, up from JPY108.75 late Thursday.
Gold was quoted at USD1.577.78 an ounce early Friday, lower than USD1,582.85 late Thursday.
Brent oil quoted at USD57.14 a barrel Friday, down from USD58.60 late Thursday.
The economic events calendar on Friday has UK mortgage approvals at 0930 GMT and eurozone GDP and inflation figures at 1000 GMT. In the afternoon, there are US personal consumption expenditure index readings at 1330 GMT - the core reading is the US Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation.
By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]
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