22nd Jan 2014 11:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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Mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd. reported that global iron ore production for the second quarter grew 16% year-over-year, but remained flat sequentially. Production of metallurgical coal grew 30%. Total iron ore production for the first half of 2014 increased 19%. The company also maintained its full-year production guidance for petroleum, copper, iron ore and coal businesses.
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AstraZeneca PLC said the Xigduo treatment it developed with Bristol-Myers Squibb as part of their diabetes collaboration, has been approved in the European Union as a treatment for Type 2 Diabetes. Xigduo is indicated for adults aged 18 and older with type 2 diabetes mellitus as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycaemic control. It is indicated in patients inadequately controlled on their current metformin-based treatment regimen or who are currently being treated with the combination of dapagliflozin and metformin as separate tablets, the drugs company said.
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Sage Group PLC said it is on course to deliver its target of 6% organic revenue growth in 2015, as it saw trading in line with expectations in the first quarter. In the period from October 1 to date, the business-management software company said it had seen trading in line with expectations across all regions it operates in.
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Hotels and coffee shops operator Whitbread PLC Wednesday said Chairman Anthony Habgood will step down later this year. Habgood has been Chairman of the company since mid-2005. The process to find his successor will be led by Ian Cheshire, the company's senior independent director.
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Property company Land Securities Group PLC reported improved occupancy rates in its retail properties, as it said it had secured GBP7.3 million of development lettings and GBP5.4 million of investment lettings since October 1, 2013. In a trading update, Land Securities said it has a further GBP7.9 million of development lettings with solicitors, meaning they're close to being signed, and a further GBP0.5 million of investment lettings.
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British pub chain JD Wetherspoon PLC said total sales and like-for-like sales are both up in its most recent trading quarter, and in the year to date. The UK-based pub owner and operator still says its targeting a reasonable outcome for the current financial year ending July 27, despite tax and cost pressure, and assuming reasonable sales growth. JD Wetherspoon said that total sales were up 10.6%, for the 12-week period to January 19, with like-for-like sales up 6.7%. In the year to date, which is the 25 weeks to January 19, JD Wetherspoon said that total sales increased by 9%, and like-for-like sales increased by 5.2%. However, the company confirmed its margins would be held back by planned investments.
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British retailer WH Smith PLC said it delivered a good profit performance in the 20 week period to January 18, as margins improved and costs were well managed across the business, but said that total sales continue on a downward trend. The stationer and bookseller said it is still keeping a tight lid on costs, which is helping improve its gross margin. Total sales for the 20 week period were down 4%, as well as on a like-for-like basis.
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Residential property company Grainger PLC said the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London has granted detailed planning permission for 84 new homes across two sites in the borough. Grainger, which was selected in September 2012 by the borough council to develop and manage mixed tenure housing on the council's land, said it will deliver a variety of tenure types across the two developments, including private rental properties and affordable housing. It will comprise 53 new homes on the former car park site at Young Street and 31 new homes at Hortensia Road.
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British Land PLC said it has sold the freehold of the Eastgate Shopping Centre in Basildon to Infrared Capital Partners for GBP88.6 million, part of its plan to dispose of assets that do not fit its strategy. The property produces a net passing rent per year of GBP6.5 million with rents.
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UK oil company Hurricane Energy PLC said it intends to list on AIM in February. The company, which is embarking on drilling for oil in fractured basement reservoirs in the North Sea, a potential new source of oil in the area, said it will raise GBP18 million by placing 41.9 million shares at 43 pence each. It will raise a further GBP31.4 million by issuing convertible loan notes and a warrant ahead of the initial public offering, which will convert into 106.7 million shares at the IPO. It expects its market capitalisation to be about GBP272 million when its shares are admitted to AIM. It expects the IPO to take place February 4.
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MARKETS
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UK stock indices are continuing to struggle for direction despite a strong UK jobs number.
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FTSE 100: down 9.38 at 6,824.88
FTSE 250: down 18.97 at 16,125.23
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 1.09 at 880.50
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The pound has shot higher in reaction to the latest reading of UK unemployment, which now has almost fallen to the level at which the Bank of England originally said it would begin to look at an interest rate rise.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6540
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3545
GOLD: down at USD1,239.80 per ounce
OIL (Brent):up at USD107.22 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Unemployment rate in the UK declined more than expected in the three months to November, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. The jobless rate for the September-November period was 7.1%, just above the Bank of England's threshold for increasing interest rates. This was the lowest rate ever recorded since December-February period of 2009. In June-August, the jobless rate stood at 7.7%. Economists had forecast a decrease to 7.3%. The claimant count or the number of persons seeking jobless benefits in the UK declined by 24,000 month-on-month in December to 1.25 million. This was the lowest level since January 2009. The decline was less steeper than the expected fall of 32,000 claimants. The claimant count rate dropped to 3.7% in December from 3.8% in November. This was the lowest since December 2008.
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Policymakers of the Bank of England were unanimous in the decision to hold the interest rate and quantitative easing at the meeting held on January 8 and 9, the minutes of the meeting showed. The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee voted to retain the 0.50% record low interest rate and quantitative easing at GBP375 billion. With unemployment remaining above the 7%, the Committee's policy guidance remained in place and no member thought it appropriate to tighten, or to loosen, the stance of monetary policy at the current juncture, the minutes said. Members assessed that there is no immediate need to raise Bank Rate even if the 7% unemployment threshold were to be reached in the near future. "When the time did come to raise Bank Rate, it would be appropriate to do so only gradually," the minutes said.
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The UK budget deficit narrowed by GBP2.1 billion from the previous year to GBP12.1 billion in December, the Office for National Statistics showed Wednesday. The deficit was below the expected level of GBP14 billion.
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The EU can intervene to curb short-selling in certain situations, the bloc's top court ruled, rejecting a British complaint over the measure. The ruling confirms the powers granted to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in 2012 to intervene in EU financial markets to curb short-selling in cases of serious financial instability. In short-selling, traders attempt to make money by betting that an asset's value will fall. The law was introduced in the wake of the EU's financial crisis, when short-selling was blamed for contributing to a freefall in European banks' share prices.
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Questions about the strength of the global economic recovery were high on the agenda as business and political leaders gathered for the annual World Economic Forum on Wednesday. About 2,500 chief executives, government leaders, economists and scientists started the four-day forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos to discuss not only ways to leave the crisis years behind for good but also how to tackle lingering problems such as growing inequalities, youth unemployment and ageing societies.
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The number of business executives who think the global economy will improve in the next 12 months has doubled since last year, the consultancy group PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a poll Tuesday. Of the 1,344 managers around the world who were surveyed, 44% were optimistic about the global economy. The annual survey was published on the eve of the World Economic Forum, the meeting of business and political leaders in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos.
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The Bank of Japan decided to keep its monetary easing plan unchanged and retained its inflation forecasts for the next two years, strengthening expectations that the central bank may keep the policy steady at least for now, with consumer prices evolving in line with its forecasts. At the end of a two-day meeting of the nine-member Policy Board, led by Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, the central bank said it will keep the target of the monetary base expansion at an annual pace of JPY60-70 trillion.
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Japan's leading economic index increased for the third successive month in November, and exceeded the initial estimates, revised data released by the Cabinet Office revealed. The leading economic index rose to 111.1 in November from 109.8 in October and 109.1 in September. The preliminary estimates were for a reading of 110.8.
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New EU proposals are expected to drop binding national targets on renewable energy, according to the BBC. The EU will outline its new 2030 framework for EU climate change and energy policies Wednesday, setting out EU renewable energy and emission targets for the next two decades, expected to be 35 to 40% lower than 1990 levels. A source within the European Commission told the BBC that going forward, there would be an EU-wide target on renewable energy for 2030, but there are unlikely to be binding national targets. The Commission will also outline its policy on shale gas to provide minimum principles aimed at supporting member states who wish to carry out hydrocarbon exploration and production by means of fracking.
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At least two people died of gunshot wounds during anti-government protests in Ukraine, prosecutors said. A demonstrator also reportedly fell to his death after being chased by police. A body with two gunshot wounds was brought to a library building in central Kiev early Wednesday, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said. Later, another man with gunshot wounds was discovered unconscious in the library and he later died, prosecutors said. Ukrainian police denied they used firearms and confirmed only one death.
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The Thai government said it would exercise "utmost restraint" as opposition protests continued on the first day of a state of emergency in Bangkok. The decree announced Tuesday covers the capital and surrounding areas in neighbouring provinces. It will be in place for the next 60 days. "The decree is meant as a deterrent," said Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Sihasak Phuanggetkeow. "In no way will there be the use of force and utmost restraint will be the order of the day." Sihasak acknowledged that one reason for invoking the decree was the government's worries about maintaining security during a scheduled snap election on February 2.
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Related Shares:
Wetherspoon (J.D)AstrazenecaWh SmithBritish LandSage GroupLand SecuritiesWhitbreadGrainger plcBHP Group