27th Aug 2015 07:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks opened broadly higher Thursday, following a much higher close on Wall Street on Wednesday, while CRH was the biggest FTSE 100 gainer after it reported positive half-year results and a US acquisition.
The Irish building materials company said its pretax profit for the first half rose slightly, held back by the cost of a bond repayment, but its earnings and revenue both surged, boosted by the weak euro, and it said it has struck a USD1.3 billion deal to acquire US group CR Laurence Co Inc.
The company said its pretax profit for the first half to the end of June was EUR63.0 million, compared to EUR61.0 million a year earlier. The pretax figure was held back by a EUR38.0 million charge the company booked related to an early bond redemption during the half.
In a separate announcement, CRH said it has agreed a USD1.3 billion deal to acquire CR Laurence from owners the Friese family. The company is a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of customer hardware and installation products for the professional glazing industry. CRH shares traded up 5.3% soon after the open.
The FTSE 100 was up 1.7% at 6,083.42 points with all stocks in the index posting gains, bar Dixons Carphone, which was off 0.1%. The FTSE 250 index was up 1.2% at 16,797.47, and the AIM All-Share traded up 0.4% at 719.15.
In Europe, the French CAC 40 was up 2.3%, and the German DAX 30 was up 2.6%.
Wall Street managed to hold onto its strong gains Wednesday, with the DJIA closing up 4.0%, the S&P 500 ending up 3.9% and the Nasdaq Composite closing up 4.2%. It was the biggest one-day gain for the Dow since 2011 and snapped a run of six consecutive losses.
Asian stocks encountered another volatile, though positive, trading session, with the Nikkei closing up 1.1%, while the Hang Seng was up 3.0% and the Shanghai Composite was up 5.3%.
Elsewhere, on the London Stock Exchange, Aldermore Group led the FTSE 250 gainers at the open, up 7.2% after it reported a jump in profit in the first half and said it is on track to deliver its goals for 2015.
The retail bank said pretax profit amounted to GBP39.5 million in the six months to the end of June, up from GBP18.6 million in the corresponding period the prior year. Excluding the costs of its initial public offering, the bank's pretax profit increased to GBP43.6 million from GBP20.8 million.
Grafton Group was up 6.4% after it reported a big rise in pretax profit for the first half to the end of June, as the group's revenue was pushed higher by improving conditions in its key markets.
The builders' merchant and DIY company said its pretax profit for the first half was GBP57.9 million, up from GBP45.9 million a year earlier, as revenue increased to GBP1.08 billion from GBP1.02 billion a year earlier.
Hunting was one of the worst midcap performers, down 4.7%. The oil services company said it swung to a pretax loss in the first half of 2015 as revenue plummeted due to reduced activity in the oil and gas sector, leading the company to slash its interim dividend by more than half.
It reported a USD65.8 million pretax loss in the first half ended June 30, swinging from a USD68.9 million profit after revenue plummeted to USD463.6 million from USD664.1 million a year earlier due to reduced activity in North America and a decline in the amount of well construction and well completion projects.
Away from stocks, investors will be looking ahead to the Jackson Hole Symposium starting later Thursday, where key Fed officials will be speaking. However, Fed Chair Janet Yellen is not expected to attend.
Commerzbank said that in Yellen's absence, investors will instead look to Fed Vice-Chairman Stanley Fischer, who will be speaking on Saturday.
"Markets are hoping he finally will give a clear indication as to what will happen next. Market reasoning is: If the Fed really was aiming for September it would have to begin communicating that now. And two and a half weeks before the Fed meeting there is hardly any better opportunity," said analysts at Commerzbank.
"However, Stanley Fischer can always be relied upon for a surprise, he was already known for that during his times with Bank of Israel. This means: take a deep breath as the in view of the uncertainties the financial markets and the USD are likely to remain turbulent," the analysts added.
The symposium follows comments from New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley, who said Wednesday in New York that a rate hike next month "seem less compelling to me [now] than it was a few weeks ago". Nevertheless, as US Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said before, Dudley said that he expects the US central bank to raise rates this year, and repeated that moves on monetary policy remain "data-dependent".
In the economic calendar, alongside the start of Jackson Hole symposium, there are initial and continuing jobless claims and Gross Domestic Product at 1330 BST. US pending home sales are due at 1500 BST, while Energy Information Administration natural gas storage is at 1530 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
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