20th Jun 2018 08:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks opened in the green on Wednesday, as a "semblance of stability" returned to markets following a recent escalation of trade tensions between the US and China.Amid broad-based gains on Wednesday - with Ocado, BT and London's two tobacco giants among the best performer in the FTSE 100 - housebuilder Berkeley Group was the worst performer as it issued a cautious outlook, despite upgrading its profit guidance.The FTSE 100 index was up 0.9%, or 66.92 points, at 7,670.77 early Wednesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 0.7%, or 140.25 points, at 20,976.03. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.3% at 1,095.37.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.9% at 13,002.56, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.6% at 19,168.60, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.1% at 12,900.10."There has been some semblance of stability returning to risk sentiment overnight, as markets await next developments in the global trade conflict. US stocks ended lower, but pared losses during the session, while there was a late rally in Asian equities," said analysts at Lloyds Banking.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.2% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.5% early Wednesday.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.3% - clawing back some of the previous day's 3.8% fall - while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.0%.In focus in the UK on Wednesday will be a House of Commons Brexit vote after the Lords again backed giving MPs a "meaningful" say on the final deal.The UK prime minister staved off a Tory rebellion on the move last week but faces a bruising battle in the latest round of voting. Dominic Grieve, one of the leading figures in the stand-off, said he expected negotiations to "go right to the wire".Peers backed an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, tabled by Viscount Hailsham, on Monday that would require the government to allow MPs to vote on how it would proceed in the absence of a Brexit deal by January 21 next year."If the House of Commons accepts the amendment, the risk of such a hard Brexit would fall considerably, which would be GBP positive. On the other hand, it is unclear what effects the defeat would have on the stability of the government and the Brexit negotiations. Ahead of tomorrow's Bank of England rate decision focus is therefore once again on the Brexit risks for the GBP outlook," said analysts at Commerzbank.Sterling was quoted at USD1.3156 early Wednesday, down slightly compared to USD1.3179 at the London equities close on Tuesday.At the top of the FTSE 100 early Wednesday was Ocado, 6.1% higher. Peel Hunt raised its price target on the online grocer to 1,700p from 610p. Shares in Ocado have nearly tripled in value since the start of this year alone.BT was 2.6% higher after Jefferies raised the telecommunications firm to Buy from Hold.Imperial Brands was up 1.8%, and British American Tobacco was 1.5% higher, after Liberum initiated both tobacco giants with a Buy rating.Amid the broad-based gains early Wednesday, Berkeley Group Holdings was the worst performer in the FTSE 100, down 3.1%.The housebuilder reported pretax profit for the year to the end of April of GBP934.9 million, up 15% from GBP812.4 million the year before. This was well above consensus expectations of GBP906 million.However, revenue for the year saw a 0.7% dip to GBP2.70 billion from GP2.72 billion, mainly due to a drop in revenue from the residential segment of GBP2.57 billion from GBP2.67 billion, despite a rise in commercial revenue and proceeds from the sale of ground rent assets.Berkeley said that the housing market in the London and South East region has remained subdued, despite UK government interventions, as headwinds including property taxation, mortgage regulation and macro uncertainty continue to constrain conditions.In the FTSE 250, Sirius Minerals was up 4.5% after signing a pay offtake agreement to supply fertiliser product POLY4 to products and services supplier Intercontinental Trade DMCC Dubai.The supply agreement is for seven years starting from first production, and is for volumes of POLY4 increasing to 350,000 tonnes per annum in the fourth year and for exclusive marketing rights to Nigeria.Mediclinic was 2.4% higher after HSBC raised the private hospital operator to Hold from Reduce.In the economic events calendar on Wednesday are South Africa inflation readings at 0900 BST and the UK CBI industrial trends survey at 1100 BST.In addition, the European Central Bank forum in Sintra, Portugal on central banking concludes on Wednesday, with US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and ECB President Mario Draghi speaking at 1430 BST.Related Shares:
Sirius MineralsOcadoBritish American TobaccoMDC.LBTImperial Brands