17th Feb 2020 07:43
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are rising at the open on Monday following a record high reached by US equity markets on Friday.
In company news, NMC Health's billionaire founder resigned as co-chair in a mass board exodus at the embattled private healthcare firm. High street bookmaker William Hill poached its new finance head from packaging firm DS Smith. Fund manager Jupiter Asset Management said it was in advanced talks to acquire UK peer Merian Global Investors.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 24.67 points higher at 7,433.80. The blue-chip index closed down 42.90 points, or 0.6%, at 7,409.13 on Friday.
NMC Health said founder Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty has resigned as joint co-chair with immediate effect, leaving Mark Tompkins as the sole non-executive chair of the company. In addition, Chief Investment Officer Hani Buttikhi and Non-Executive Director Abdulrahman Basaddiq also have departed the company with immediate effect.
The UAE-focused private hospital group on Friday announced the resignation of Vice Chair Khalifa Butti Omeir Bin Yousef amid a legal review.
In December, US short selling firm Muddy Waters Capital accused NMC of manipulating its balance sheet to understate debt, which the company firmly denied. Since then the stock has suffered from volatile swings as NMC has strived to restore its reputation among investors. NMC shares are down 56% so far in 2020.
Jupiter Asset Management confirmed weekend press reports that it is in advanced talks to acquire asset manager Merian Global Investors in an all-share deal worth GBP370 million. The acquisition would be paid for with the issue of 95.4 million new Jupiter Shares to Merian shareholders. Jupiter said Merdian shareholders would own 17% of the combined company.
"The addition of Merian is compelling for all stakeholders. With this acquisition, our business will benefit from an increased capacity to attract, develop and retain high quality talent, backed by further investment in our platform and technology. In turn, we will be able to offer a wider choice of strongly performing active investment strategies to our clients, while shareholders will benefit from a highly earnings accretive deal delivered through substantial cost synergies," said Jupiter Chief Executive Andrew Formica.
William Hill said it hired Adrian Marsh as its new chief financial officer. Marsh joins the FTSE 250-listed bookmaker from FTSE 100 paper and packaging company DS Smith later this year. DS Smith said it has started the process of finding a replacement and noted Marsh has a 12-month notice period.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended mostly higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ending 0.2% higher, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 0.1%. The S&P and Nasdaq indices both closed at record highs on Friday.
US financial markets are closed on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.
The death toll from China's coronavirus epidemic jumped to 1,770 after 105 more people died, the National Health Commission said Monday.
More than 70,500 have now been infected nationwide by the virus, which first emerged in December in central Hubei province before spreading across the country.
Chinese authorities have placed about 56 million people in Hubei and its capital Wuhan under quarantine, virtually sealing off the province from the rest of the country in an unprecedented effort to contain the virus.
New cases outside of the epicentre have been declining for the last thirteen days.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3040 early Monday, up from USD1.3028 at the London equities close Friday.
On the political front, France warned Britain to expect a bruising battle with the EU in the forthcoming negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal.
French foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian predicted the two sides would "rip each other apart" as they strove for advantage in the talks.
Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference, he made clear that Brussels will defend its interests when negotiations begin next month.
"I think that on trade issues and the mechanism for future relations, which we are going to start on, we are going to rip each other apart," he said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and chief negotiator Michel Barnier have both cast doubt on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's aim to reach a comprehensive agreement by the end of the year when the Brexit transition period runs out.
The euro was quoted at USD1.0837 early Monday, marginally lower than USD1.0842 at the close Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was at JPY109.83 early Monday, firm from JPY109.77 late Friday.
Brent oil was at USD57.26 a barrel early Monday, flat on USD57.15 at the equities close Friday.
Gold was trading at USD1,582.30 an ounce Monday, firm against USD1,581.60 late Friday.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 2.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.7%.
Over the weekend, China's central bank offered additional funds to banks to help manufacturers and businesses amid the coronavirus outbreak.
"Increased hope of fiscal stimulus in China, coupled with relaxed financing terms for companies directly hindered by Coronavirus supported mainland China equity markets during the session. The People's Bank of China's 10 basis points cut to the rate applied to its 1-Year Medium-Term Lending Facility was welcomed," said analysts at Eurex.
Japan suffered its worst quarterly GDP contraction in more than five years, with a tax hike and a deadly typhoon taking a toll on the world's third-largest economy.
The nation's gross domestic product in the three months to December shrank 1.6% from the previous quarter, even before the novel coronavirus outbreak in China hit Japan, according to official data published on Monday.
The quarter was marked by a rise in consumption tax to 10% from 8%, as well as Typhoon Hagibis, which killed more than 100 people and caused widespread flooding.
By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]
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