12th Jun 2018 07:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Tuesday, ahead of UK unemployment data at 0930 BST, as Halma and BAT provided positive updates while AstraZeneca said its was discontinuing the trial of its Alzheimer's treatment due to poor test results.Meanwhile, US President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a signing ceremony of a document following their meeting in Singapore, but have not yet released the text of the document.In early corporate news, Halma reported an increased profit and revenue growth in its recently ended financial year, with annual revenue growing beyond the GBP1.00 billion mark. British American Tobacco reported that trading in the first half of 2018 is so far in line with expectations. Randgold Resources said a development decision for its Massawa gold project in Senegal is drawing near. AstraZeneca will discontinue the phase three trials of Alzheimer's disease treatment drug lanabecestat.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 30.47 points higher at 7,767.90 on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.7% at 7,737.43 on Monday."Sterling will remain in focus today as the latest UK unemployment and average earnings figures will be released at 0930 BST. The unemployment rate is anticipated to hold steady at 4.2%. Economists are expecting average earnings to be unchanged at 2.9%. The inflation rate has cooled in recent months, and this has taken some of the pressure off the British consumer," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets."The pound lost ground versus the US dollar and euro yesterday after poor UK economic indicators were reported. Industrial output fell by 0.8%, while manufacturing output declined by 1.4%," Madden added.Sterling was quoted at USD1.3349 early Tuesday, slightly lower than USD1.3382 at the London equities close on Monday.Theresa May is facing 48 hours of parliamentary warfare as the UK prime minister battles to get her Brexit legislation back on track.May appeared to have defused a potentially explosive row over the EU customs union as Tory pro-Europe rebels and Brexiteers came together to table a compromise amendment.However, the government remained vulnerable to a humiliating defeat on giving Parliament a decisive say over what happens next if it rejects a final Brexit deal as the EU (Withdrawal) Bill returns to the Commons on Tuesday and Wednesday for crunch votes.On the London Stock Exchange, health and safety firm Halma reported pretax profit for the year to the end of March at GBP171.9 million, up 9% from GBP157.7 million the year before, on revenue that grew to GBP1.07 billion from GBP961.7 million.The increases were due to strong revenue growth in all regions, particularly Asia Pacific, which outperformed the UK for the first time with revenue of GBP174.9 million, compared to UK revenue for the year at GBP173.3 million.Halma has proposed a final dividend of 8.97 pence per share, leading to a total annual payout of 14.68p, up 7% from 13.71p.Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said it and its parter Eli Lilly will discontinue the phase three clinical trials of lanabecestat, an enzyme inhibitor for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, due to recommendations by an independent data monitoring committee.The committee concluded that the AMARANTH trial for early Alzheimer's and the DAYBREAK-ALZ trial for mild Alzheimer's dementia were unlikely to meet their primary endpoints and should be stopped for futility.AstraZeneca said the trial discontinuation will not have a material effect on its financial guidance for 2018, which is unchanged.British American Tobacco reported a solid performance in the first half of 2018, though it again warned of currency headwinds for the rest of the year. BAT said the business "continues to perform well", and it is meeting expectations. It still expects adjusted revenue and profit growth to be weighted to its second half, with the first half ending June.The FTSE 100-listed tobacco giant had said in late April it expected foreign currency to be a headwind, and said Tuesday it said it foresees a 6% hit on 2018 operating profit at current exchange rates.Gold miner Randgold Resources said it will make a development decision over the Massawa gold project in Senegal at the end of 2018, as the feasibility study for the project nears completion.According to the latest testwork, 75% of Massawa's ore reserves could be processed through the low-cost gravity and leach method, while the remaining 25% would be produced at the end of the mine's life, either through the BIOX process, or being sold as concentrate. Randgold said the reserves for the project are still short of its minimum of 3 million ounces, so it will continue exploration to expand the reserve. Also in the economic events calendar on Tuesday are US inflation readings at 1330 BST. In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending flat, the S&P 500 up 0.1% and Nasdaq Composite closing 0.2% higher.US President Donald Trump said Tueday he would "absolutely" invite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the White House. He made the comments after the two leaders signed a joint document at the end of the summit between the two leaders at Singapore's Capella Hotel. He was asked by a reporter if he would invite Kim to the White House, to which Trump replied "Absolutely, I will." It was not clear when an invitation could be issued.In Asia on Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.4%.Related Shares:
AstrazenecaHalmaBritish American TobaccoRandgold Resources