27th Sep 2019 08:35
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened in the green on Friday, with US-China trade talk optimism offsetting the rising threat to the presidency of Donald Trump.
The FTSE 100 index was up 53.63 points, or 0.7%, at 7,404.71. The FTSE 250 was up 65.95 points, or 0.3%, at 19,884.56 and the AIM All-Share was 0.2% higher at 872.64.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.9% at 12,593.43. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 17,748.81 and the Cboe UK Small Companies flat at 10,859.22.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were both 0.3% higher.
On the London Stock Exchange, FTSE 250 water utility Pennon Group rose 0.7%. The firm is on track to meet expectations for its year ending March 2020, with funding and liquidity both "strong".
Waste business Viridor is doing well, Pennon said, while South West Water is on track to deliver "continued outperformance" and an improved return on regulated equity.
Revenue in South West Water has returned to a "more normal" level for the half-year ending September, after the exceptionally hot summer of 2018, meeting board expectations.
Given the good performance in Viridor and South West Water, Pennon has decided to "conduct a full review of the strategic focus, growth options and capital allocation policy for the group".
Residential landlord Grainger was up just 0.2% as it reported a "strong" performance in the 11 months to August, with overall rental growth of 3.4% year-on-year. On a like-for-like basis, rental growth on private rental sector homes was 3.1%.
Occupancy was strong, Grainger continued, at 97.5% in the private rental sector, and retention rates were "excellent".
Grainger is on track with regard to completions, having completed 912 private rental homes in its year ending September 30 with another 1,150 to come.
Grainger also unveiled a new private rental sector technology platform, called Connect, which allows customers to carry out renting and living administration on mobile phones or computers. The firm said the platform will support its "major" growth plans.
On AIM, veterinary services firm CVS Group climbed 5.7% as it reported higher revenue and hiked its dividend.
CVS posted a 17% fall in pretax profit for the year to June to GBP11.7 million, due to amortisation costs related to acquisitions. The adjusted figure climbed 15% to GBP41.4 million.
CVS posted revenue of GBP406.5 million, 24% higher than the year before, and like-for-like revenue was 5.2% higher.
It will be paying a dividend of 5.5 pence per share for the year, up 10% on the year before.
There was a "significant" second-half improvement, CVS said, making it confident of further progress in the new year.
In the FTSE 100, Barratt Developments was 1.0% lower as Jefferies cut the construction firm to Hold from Buy. Peer Taylor Wimpey was 1.5% lower, as Jefferies did the same.
However, Persimmon was up 1.4% after Jefferies took a more positive view, raising it to Buy from Hold.
Also suffering a broker rating cut was storage firm Big Yellow. It was down 1.5%, as HSBC cut it to Hold from Buy.
A US government whistleblower complaint has accused President Donald Trump of seeking the assistance of Ukraine to smear a rival in the upcoming US election, and also alleged the White House engaged in a cover up.
The complaint, which was submitted in August but declassified and released Thursday, warned that "the president of the US is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election."
The complaint is based primarily on a phone call Trump held with the newly-elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25. A reconstructed transcript of the call was released by the White House on Wednesday.
In the call, Trump asked Zelensky to consider opening a probe into Joe Biden, who is running to be the Democratic nominee for president next year. The request appeared to be an effort by the Republican US president to have Kiev dig up dirt on one of his main rivals.
More reassuring for markets, China's Commerce Ministry on Thursday said Chinese companies bought "considerable" quantities of American pork and soybean exports as the two countries prepare to resume high-level negotiations next month. This came a day after the US unveiled part of a new trade deal with Japan.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 0.3%, the S&P 500 down 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.6%.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.8% Friday. In China, the Shanghai Composite finished up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.3% in late trade.
Consumer confidence in the UK increased in September in the "wait and see run-up" to the October 31 Brexit deadline, according to a survey.
The long-running GfK Consumer Confidence Index increased by two points to minus 12, with all five of the survey's measures including personal finances and the general economy showing an uptick in positivity.
Expectations for the general economic situation over the next 12 months increased three points to minus 35, eight points lower than September last year.
None of the UK's biggest cities saw annual property growth hitting 5% or more in August, marking the first time this has happened since 2012 as the market adjusts to more realistic pricing, according to an index.
Zoopla's index, which covers house price movements in the UK's 20 biggest cities, found that the fastest rate of year-on-year house price growth in August was in Leicester, at 4.8%, according to Zoopla.
It was the first time since December 2012 that the city with the fastest house price growth had an annual rate of price inflation below 5%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2329 early Friday, soft against USD1.2358 at the close Thursday.
Still in the economic calendar on Friday are eurozone consumer confidence data at 1000 BST. In the afternoon, there are US personal consumption expenditure figures at 1330 BST - the core reading is the US Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation.
By George Collard; [email protected]
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