22nd Jul 2019 08:51
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened broadly flat on Monday, with geopolitical tensions and Brexit concerns weighing on investor sentiment. The FTSE 100 was down just 2.58 points at 7,506.12. The FTSE 250 was down 23.63 points, or 0.1%, at 19,598.03. The AIM All-Share was down 0.76 points at 913.48.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.2% at 12,702.75. The Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 17,499.12, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 11,046.61.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were both up 0.1%."At the start of a week that will almost certainly crown Boris Johnson as prime minister by Wednesday, and following a weekend full of headlines about rising tensions between Iran and the west, the markets would be forgiven for feeling a bit worse for wear," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell. In the FTSE 100, J Sainsbury was up 1.5% after Barclays raised the supermarket chain to Overweight from Equal Weight. At the other end of the large cap index, Whitbread was down 1.5% after the hospitality firm completed its GBP2 billion shareholder payout via the purchase of 40 million shares at 4,972 pence per share. The Premier Inn hotel chain owner said this marks the successful completion of its capital return programme with a total of GBP2.5 billion returned, including the tender offer and previous share buyback programme. Whitbread said the tender offer was oversubscribed and no further capital returns are planned.AVEVA Group was down 0.9% after Jefferies started coverage on the software firm with a Hold rating. In the FTSE 250, Ted Baker was the best performer, up 7.9% after the Sunday Times newspaper reported that the company's founder Ray Kelvin could back a private equity buyout of the fashion retailer.Additionally, oil stocks were among the best performers, tracking spot oil prices higher, quoted at USD63.40 a barrel, up from USD62.32 late Friday.Premier Oil, Cairn Energy, Hunting and Tullow Oil were up 3.1%, 2.8%, 2.7% and 2.5% respectively. Oil prices were higher amid the seizure by Iran of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf.UK Prime Minister Theresa May will chair a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee on Monday, while Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will update the House of Commons on Monday afternoon, amid reports that ministers are considering freezing Iranian regime assets.Hunt is expected to tell MPs what further measures the government will take.Ascential was up 2.1% after the information and events company said it saw strong strategic progress and organic growth in first half revenue and profit. For the half year to June 30, revenue increased to GBP236.2 million from GBP188.9 million last year, with growth of 8.7% on an organic basis and 11.0% on a proforma basis. Pretax profit was up to GBP30.5 million from GBP23.1 million last year.Ascential also acquired a 35% stake in cybersecurity firm Avast's data intelligence company Jumpshot for USD60.8 million. Avast was up 1.0%.In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.3%, S&P 500 down 0.6% and Nasdaq Composite ending 0.7% lower.Investors paused for breath after last week's gains as the New York Federal Reserve attempted to alleviate comments from its president John Williams, who had suggested the US Federal Reserve would cut borrowing costs by 50 basis points at its policy meeting later this month.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.8%.The pound was quoted at USD1.2504 early Monday, flat against USD1.2507 at the London equities close Friday. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is the strong favourite to become the next leader of the Conservatives, as the party is scheduled to close a postal ballot of its 160,000 members on Monday.The party is due to announce the result of the run-off between Johnson and current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Tuesday.Speaking to Friday's Daily Express, Johnson said the three years since Britain voted by a slim majority to leave the EU "will seem like a bad dream," if he is allowed to form a new government.The economic events calendar on Monday has UK CBI Industrial Trends Survey at 1100 BST.
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