24th Aug 2018 08:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were mixed early Friday, as markets await US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech in Wyoming later in the day. In the large cap index Shire rose after getting approvals for a new drug, while Antofagasta benefited from a broker upgrade, as did FTSE 250-listed Ted Baker, in a fairly quiet morning for UK corporate news. The FTSE 100 was marginally higher, by 1.49 points, at 7,564.95 early Friday.The mid-cap FTSE 250 was down just 2.70 points at 20,661.89, while the AIM All-Share was 0.2% lower at 1,090.45The Cboe UK 100 was flat at 12,817.86, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 18,781.25, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was also 0.1% higher at 12,336.55.The pound was higher against the dollar quoted at USD1.2837 Friday compared to USD1.2830 at close Thursday.Turning to UK company news early Friday, FTSE 100-listed biotechnology company Shire was 2.8% higher after the US Food & Drug Administration has approved its Takhzyro drug to treat a rare genetic disease.The disease, hereditary angioedema, causes attacks of swelling in different parts of the body and can be life-threatening.Approval from the FDA follows a phase III study of 125 patients in which Takhzyro reduced monthly attacks by, on average, 87% in patients when compared with a placebo.Also in the FTSE 100, miner Antofagasta was 2.3% higher as RBC raised it to an Outperform rating from Sector Perform. In the FTSE 250, energy firm Petrofac was 2.1% higher as it sold its 20% stake in the Greater Stella Area in the UK North Sea for USD292 million to Ithaca Energy, with the deal set to bring a USD55 million impairment charge.Chief Executive Ayman Asfari said: "This disposal marks a further milestone in our journey back to a capital-light business and, along with recently-agreed transactions in Mexico and Tunisia, marks the significant progress we are making on our stated strategy."Computacenter was 0.7% higher as it posted a 9.5% rise in statutory pretax profit for the six months to June to GBP52.0 million, while adjusted pretax profit was up 24% to GBP52.1 million.Revenue climbed to GBP2.01 billion, rising 18% year-on-year, going past the GBP2 billion mark for the first time.Computacenter's core Technology Sourcing division has done particularly well, increasing revenue by 26% to GBP1.43 billion, while Services rose 2.3% to GBP574.8 million.The company is paying an 8.7 pence per share interim dividend to its shareholders, higher than the 7.4p paid out for the same period last year.Computacenter has maintained guidance for 2018, which was upgraded in July, and though the second half of 2018 will be more difficult to predict due to a strong comparable the company said it is making "significant" progress.Retailer Ted Baker was 1.1% higher as Peel Hunt raised its rating for the stock to Add from Hold. Elsewhere, Kingspan was up 6.4% as it reported a 15% rise in interim revenue to EUR2.01 billion, passing EUR2 billion for the first time in a six-month period.Kingspan's pretax profit for the period was EUR177.6 million, up from EUR163.3 million a year prior.The company has lifted its interim dividend to 12.0 euro cents from the 11.0 cents paid for the first half of 2017.Kingspan said it was a record period, despite a slow start due to a bad winter, with the second quarter of 2018 particularly strong, a period in which revenue grew 21% year-on-year.The UK was "particularly robust", Kingspan said, despite ongoing uncertainty over Brexit. North American and German operations did well, the company added.Looking ahead, Kingspan said the good momentum in the second quarter has continued, and it expects strength in other geographies to offset any Brexit-related weakness in the UK.On AIM, Kefi Minerals was 16% higher as it signed a heads of agreement with investors in Ethiopia for between USD30 million and USD35 million for its Tulu Kapi gold project in the country. At the other end of the index was Bahamas Petroleum, down 73%, after a "major" international oil company decided not to extend an exclusivity agreement with Bahamas Petroleum.The company has now started looking for other third parties to discuss funding for its first exploration well. Later on Friday, at approximately 1500 BST, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to speak at Jackson Hole."Fed Chair Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economics Symposium will be the main focus in an otherwise relatively quiet day," said Lloyds Bank. "The symposium as a whole is an occasion for central bankers to meet with academics and discuss big economic issues. As such much of the discussion has little immediate impact on markets.""However, the Fed Chair's opening remarks usually cover the monetary policy outlook and occasionally the speech has been used to signal potential shifts in policy. Powell's remarks will therefore be followed closely," Lloyds continued.Elsewhere in US economic news, China's Ministry of Commerce said Friday it had held "constructive meetings" with officials from its American counterpart, despite the fact the summit failed to prevent a further escalation in tariffs.Chinese officials led by Vice Minister of Commerce & Deputy China International Trade Representative Wang Shouwen met with US Treasury officials on Wednesday and Thursday in Washington DC.In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.3% lower, the S&P 500 down 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite closing 0.1% lower. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended 0.2% higher.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed 0.8% higher on Friday, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.3% in late tradeConsumer prices in Japan rose 0.8% year-on-year in July amid growing energy costs, but were still far off a 2% target set by the Bank of Japan more than five years ago, the government said Friday.The reading represented the 19th straight month of increase, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.The cost of kerosene jumped 22.2%, that of petrol climbed 16.8% and that of electricity 2.5%, the ministry said.The core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, stood at 100.9 against a base of 100 for 2015, the ministry said.Related Shares:
PetrofacKefi Gold & CopperKGP.LTED.LComputacenterAntofagastaShireBPC.LAntofag.5%pr