12th Feb 2015 10:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - London equities indices have pushed higher Thursday, along with their European counterparts, amid news of a ceasefire agreement in the Ukrainian conflict.
A ceasefire agreement for Ukraine has been reached at peace talks in Belarus and will take effect at midnight on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"Traders were not holding much hope for the talks in Minsk, but the market was pleasantly surprised by the announcement. At least one set of talks that are taking place in Europe has ended well, and dealers are still seeking an outcome for the Greek debt discussion," says IG market analyst David Madden.
At mid-morning, the FTSE 100 is up 0.4% at 6,847.34, the FTSE 250 is up 0.6% at 16,731.66, and the AIM All-Share is up 0.2% at 698.29.
European stocks are performing even better, with the French CAC 40 up 0.8% and the German DAX 30 up 1.3%.
Stocks had initially opened cautiously higher in London after negotiations between the eurogroup finance ministers and Greece over the country's debt remained at a stalemate. Eurozone finance ministers ended their talks without any major breakthrough on the future course of action on Greek debt funding. "We had an intense discussion and constructive, covering a lot of ground, also making progress, but not enough progress at this point to come to joint conclusions," Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said at the press conference in Brussels late Wednesday.
"Markets are still priced relatively optimistically. A deal that pushes the crisis can down the road a few months might be enough to get EUR/USD back up to 1.15 or higher, while failure would trigger a knee-jerk slide," says Kit Juckes, analyst at Societe Generale.
The euro currently trades the dollar at USD1.1340, having dropped back down to the levels it was at before the announcement of the Ukrainian cease fire.
Rio Tinto leads the FTSE 100 gainers, trading up 3.2%. The Anglo-Australian miner said it will hike its dividend and launch a USD2 billion share buyback programme in order to return USD6.0 billion to shareholders. The mining group said it will hike its total dividend by 12% to 215 US cents per share, up from 192 cents per share last year. The group also said it will launch a USD2 billion share buyback programme, comprising a USD400 million off-market share buy-back tender and a USD1.6 billion on-market buyback of shares.
Lancashire Holdings, up 4.7%, is the best performer in the FTSE 250. The insurance and reisurance provider said it is in a "very good place for 2015", as it posted a rise in pretax profit for 2014. The company proposed a further special dividend of 50 cents, takings total special dividends for the year to USD1.70, compared to 65 cents in 2013. It also maintained its final dividend of 10 cents, taking its total standard dividends for the year to 15 cents.
Informa is another strong FTSE 250 gainer, up 3.0%. The business media and events company company raised its dividend for 2014, as impairment charges offset a rise in revenue, leading it to swing to a pretax loss. The company proposed a final dividend of 12.9 pence, taking its total dividend to 19.3 pence, up from 18.9 pence a year before.
Morgan Advanced Materials reported its pretax profit halved in 2014, as revenue was dragged back by currency headwinds over the year. The FTSE 250-listed carbon and ceramic products manufacturer said its pretax profit for the year to December 31 was down to GBP31.5 million from GBP64 million a year earlier. However, revenue improved in the second half, and the company is amongst the best mid-cap performers Thursday, with its shares up 3.0%.
Zoopla Property Group, down 3.2%. The online property portal said it is trading in line with its expectations for the year, though total advertising members fell 11% to 16,967 at the end of January from 18,999 a year earlier due to the challenge from start-up property portal OnTheMarket.
In the economic calendar, the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report has just been released. The central bank said it sees economic slack of just 0.5% GDP left at present.
In the afternoon, US retail sales for January is at 1330 GMT.
Shire is due to release its full-year results at 1200 GMT.
US futures point to a higher opening, with the DJIA, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 all pointed up 0.4%.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
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Related Shares:
Rio TintoLancashire HoldingsShireMorgan Advanced MaterialsInformaZPLA.L