5th Nov 2018 07:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are seen opening marginally lower on Monday, tracking Asian markets lower, as the US downplayed hopes of an imminent trade deal with China.Enterprise software firm Micro Focus said its decline in annual revenue is expected to be at the better end of its previously guided range and it extended its share buyback programme, while also announcing the departure of its chief financial officer to broadcaster ITV. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open down 4.02 points at 7,090.10. The blue chip index closed 0.4% lower, or 20.54 points, at 7,094.12 on Friday. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 2.1%.Asian stocks were lower on trade concerns after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow downplayed the potential for a quick trade deal between the US and China.In early UK corporate news, Micro Focus International said trading has been in line with the company's expectations, with an "improved revenue trajectory" in the second half of the year.The software firm said that, at constant currency, revenue will be around the upper end of the guidance of 6% to 9% decline for the financial year to the end of October, which was reiterated at the interim results in July.Micro Focus said it will return a further USD229 million to shareholders via an extension of its share buyback programme.Meanwhile, Chief Financial Officer Chris Kennedy will leave the company to join broadcaster ITV in the same role in first quarter of 2019. Micro Focus has appointed former Paysafe Group CFO as its new CFO, joining the company this month.Ryanair Holdings said that in October traffic grew 11% to 13.1 million passengers from 11.8 million at the same time last year. The Irish carrier reported a 96% load factor for October, which is up from 95% a year before. "During October, we were forced to cancel just over 300 flights because of a five day airport handler strike at Brussels Zaventem, some adverse weather and continuing ATC staff shortages in the UK, Germany and France. We operated over 71,400 scheduled flights with over 80% of these flights arriving on time," Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Jacobs said. FTSE 250-listed outsourcer Capita said it completed the sale of its parking management business, ParkingEye, to Macquarie Principal Finance for GBP235 million.FTSE 250-listed RPC Group said it extended the deadline for private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Bain Capital to make a firm offer for the plastic products maker to December 3. In economic news, China's private sector expanded at the weakest pace in more than two years in October with both services and manufacturing noting weaker performances, survey results from IHS Markit showed Monday.The Caixin composite output index fell to a 28-month low of 50.5 in October from 52.1 in September. Service sector activity rose only marginally. The Caixin services Purchasing Managers' Index fell to a 13-month low of 50.8 from 53.1 in September. Meanwhile, manufacturing production stagnated, following increases in each of the preceding 27 months.In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.4%, S&P 500 down 0.6% Nasdaq Composite down 1.0%. The US focus this week will be the US midterm elections on Tuesday and the US Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision, due on Thursday."The headline risk this week is the US mid-term elections, where the Democrats are widely expected to flip the House of Representatives. The resultant political deadlock could weigh on US indices and the dollar alike. This is a huge risk event for the market. We expecting to see investors selling out of positions and taking risk off the table ahead of the midterm elections," said London Capital Group's Jasper Lawler.In addition, the Fed is due to announce its interest rate decision on Thursday. The US central bank is widely expected to leave rates unchanged, although the accompanying statement may provide clues about the anticipated rate hike next month. The pound was higher quoted at USD1.3006 early Monday against USD1.2964 at the London equities close Friday. UK Prime Minister Theresa May has reportedly secured a deal that will allow Britain to remain in the customs union after Brexit and avoid a hard Irish border, resolving the biggest stumbling block in negotiations with the EU.A government spokesman in London, however, described as "speculation" the Sunday Times report which claimed May had made concessions to Brussels to resolve the so-called Irish question.The spokesman merely told dpa that "good progress" had been made in the negotiations.London and Brussels are currently at odds over how to prevent the return of a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which will leave the EU with Britain at the end of March 2019.The Times reported that according to the deal, remaining in the EU customs union will only be temporary. May is planning to discuss the plan with cabinet on Tuesday, the newspaper added.The economic events calendar on Monday has services PMI readings from the UK at 0930 GMT and US at 1445 GMT.Related Shares:
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