13th Nov 2014 07:41
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open higher Thursday, snapping back from a lower close on Wednesday, despite weaker-than-expected Chinese industrial production and retail sales data for October.
Futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 22 points higher at 6,633. The index closed Wednesday at 6,611.04.
Chinese industrial production growth for October came in at 7.7% year-on-year, below expectations of 8%, while the efforts of Chinese authorities to rebalance the economy appear to be having little effect, as retail sales growth year-on-year came in at 11.5%, also below expectations of 11.6%. The data is likely to reinforce expectations that the Chinese central bank will keep policy conditions fairly loose for the near future.
SABMiller reported a rise in first-half revenue to USD11.37 billion, driven by sales in Africa and Latin America. The brewer's pretax profit rose to USD2.83 billion from USD2.43 billion and raised its dividend to 26 cents a share.
Rolls Royce said it expects to complete the sale of its energy gas turbines and compressor business to Germany's Siemens before the end of 2014, and plans to return the proceeds from the sale to shareholders through a GBP1 billion share buyback. The aero-engine maker also reiterated that extra restructuring costs will reduce its expected underlying profit in both 2014 and 2015 by about GBP60 million.
BSkyB confirmed plans to change its name to Sky following the completion of its acquisition of Sky Italia and an 89.71% stake in Sky Deutschland.
The London Stock Exchange reported a rise in pretax profit as it nears completion of the acquisition of Frank Russell Co. The bourse operator reported GBP136.8 million profit in the six months ended September 30, compared with GBP116.0 million last year. Revenue rose to GBP592.6 million from GBP504.2 million.
ITV said it remains on track to deliver double-digit profit growth this year and GBP15 million in cost savings as the broadcaster reported a rise in nine-month external revenue to GBP1.8 billion.
Germany's DAX closed down 1.7% on Wednesday while the CAC 40 finished down 1.5%.
US trading finished mixed, with the DJIA ending flat on the day and the S&P 500 closing down 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.3%.
In Asia Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei closed up 1.1%, a new seven-year high, buoyed by a 2.9% rise in industrial production in September. The Hang Seng is 0.4% higher and the Shanghai Composite is up down 0.3%.
Brent crude is touching fresh four-year lows early Thursday, trading at USD80.68.
By Ian Edmondson; [email protected]
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