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| | London Market Report |  | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | London close: Stocks end slightly higher despite mixed Eurozone news Mixed newsflow from the Eurozone kept financial markets busy on Thursday, though a late rally pushed UK stocks into positive territory by the close. London's FTSE 100 finished the day up just 0.1% at 6,866, but had bounced strongly after hitting an intraday low of 6,808.19.
The European Central Bank (ECB) said on Wednesday that it will lift the waiver on using Greek government bonds as collateral for lending to its banks. The ECB's move came as the newly-elected Greek government seeks to ease the terms of its €240bn bailout with its creditors.
Investors were also focusing on the news that Denmark's central bank slashed interest rates for the fourth time in three weeks in an attempt to defend the krone's currency ceiling against the struggling euro.
Meanwhile, the European Commission raised its growth forecasts for the Eurozone for 2015 and 2016 due to the effect of lower oil prices a weaker euro.
In other news, the Bank of England announced at noon that it had kept the Bank Rate at the record-low level of 0.5% and its asset purchases programme at £375bn, as expected by the market.
Economic data was also keeping investors busy on Thursday; figures showed a better-than-expected jump in German factory orders, a contraction in Eurozone like-for-like retail sales, an easing in the growth rate of UK new car registrations, a smaller-than-forecast rise in US jobless claims and an unexpected widening in the US trade deficit.
M&A lifts BT and Rexam
BT surged after confirming reports it has settled on terms of its acquisition of EE from Deutsche Telekom and Orange, saying it will be spending £12.5bn on the UK mobile network.
Rexam's share price surged over 20% after the beverage can maker confirmed rumours that it has been approached by Ball Corporation. Ball Corporation has proposed a acquisition which values Rexam at 610p per share, or £4.3bn.
Smith & Nephew rose after seeing a 6% increase in annual revenue, while catering company Compass advanced as organic revenue grew more than expected in its first quarter.
Heading the other way was Astrazeneca after earnings per share fell more than expected in the fourth quarter, dragging the full-year number short of the market's target.
Vodafone dialed in a smaller-than-expected 0.4% decline in organic service revenues in the third quarter thanks to a steady recovery in Europe and a return to growth in the UK, though investors were largely underwhelmed.
Easyjet fell after saying that passenger numbers were flat at the budget airline in January, while planes were not as full as they were a year earlier. The carrier flew just over 4.02m customers last month, representing no change from January 2014.
Market Movers
techMARK 3,092.32 +0.30%
FTSE 100 6,865.93 +0.09%
FTSE 250 16,694.99 +0.74% |
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| | FTSE 100 - Risers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 418.10p +5.61%
BT Group (BT.A) 442.00p +4.49%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,000.00p +3.52%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,638.00p +2.63%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,198.00p +2.57%
BG Group (BG.) 954.80p +2.45%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,852.00p +2.32%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,452.00p +2.25%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 918.00p +2.06%
GKN (GKN) 382.60p +2.00%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,529.00p -3.39%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,726.00p -2.92%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 230.90p -2.37%
BAE Systems (BA.) 516.50p -2.09%
ITV (ITV) 226.00p -1.99%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,021.00p -1.92%
CRH (CRH) 1,747.00p -1.80%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,820.00p -1.75%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,835.00p -1.70%
St James's Place (STJ) 877.00p -1.46%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Rexam (REX) 538.00p +20.20%
Lonmin (LMI) 188.30p +9.29%
Hunting (HTG) 493.00p +8.07%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 474.20p +5.57%
Premier Oil (PMO) 168.70p +4.72%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 152.00p +4.54%
Serco Group (SRP) 179.40p +4.48%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,423.00p +4.30%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 619.00p +3.86%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 770.50p +3.77%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Afren (AFR) 9.64p -13.11%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 158.10p -6.67%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 409.30p -5.10%
Victrex plc (VCT) 2,038.00p -2.58%
Beazley (BEZ) 293.90p -2.42%
Man Group (EMG) 175.50p -2.34%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 577.50p -2.12%
Telecity Group (TCY) 865.00p -2.09%
Rank Group (RNK) 182.00p -1.89% |
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| | Europe Market Report | | | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  | | | | | | Europe close: Stocks little changed as markets weigh Greece European stocks were little changed as Greece suffered a setback in its bailout negotiations after the European Central Bank (ECB) said it would stop accepting bonds as collateral for bank loans. The ECB's decision to pull the plug on its funding for Greece's financial sector puts the burden on Athens' central bank to finance its lenders.
The move delays the newly appointed Greek government in its attempt to negotiate a new debt deal with other Eurozone nations.
"What this means is that Greek banks will now have to go to the Greek Central Bank for their only conduit of emergency funding, but this particular tap can be shut off very quickly," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
"As for how this will affect the tone for today's meeting between Greek finance minister Varoufakis and German finance minister Schaeuble is anyone's guess, but it should make for a very interesting conversation, given that the timing of the ECB's action could be construed as political in nature."
Varoufakis met his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble in Berlin and they unsurprisingly disagreed over an immediate solution to the Greek debt pile. Greece is planning to allow its current bailout terms to lapse at end of month.
Schäuble said the pair had "agreed to disagree" about the solution to the country's debts.
Meanwhile, reports emerged that the ECB was poised to allow Greece's banks emergency funding of up to €60bn.
Elsewhere in Europe, a report showed German factory orders rose 3.4% in December after a 0.4% drop a month earlier. Analysts had expected a 0.7% gain.
Markit's construction purchasing managers' index for Germany fell to 49.5 in January from 50.5 a month earlier. A reading above 50 signals expansion while below that level indicates a contraction.
In the UK, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) maintained its policy with interest rates at 0.5% and asset purchases at £375bn, as expected.
"Regardless of whether the Bank of England first acts late on in 2015 or waits until early 2015, we see interest rates rising gradually to 1.50% at the end of 2016 and to 2.50% at the end of 2017," said Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight.
"This is based on our expectation that growth will hold up pretty well and that consumer price inflation will get back up to 2% by early-2017."
Rexam, BNP Paribas
Rexam jumped after saying US beverage can maker Ball Corp. is in talks to buy the company.
BNP Paribas SA edged lower as the French bank said its earnings will be hurt by new rules and higher taxes.
AstraZeneca dropped after its fourth-quarter earnings and sales fell short of analysts' estimates.
BT Group advanced after agreeing to buy EE for £12.5bn.
UBS Group AG slumped following reports the US regulators are investigating whether the bank helped Americans evade taxes.
The euro rose 0.71% to $1.1426. |
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| | US Market Report | | US open: Stocks rise amid upbeat earnings as oil prices rebound US stocks rose on Thursday, as they successfully shrugged off Wednesday's decline buoyed by upbeat earnings and a rebound in oil prices. Just after 10:00 in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.69% to 17,794.65, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.75% and 0.64% respectively.
The European Central Bank's (ECB) decision to pull the plug on its funding for Greece's financial sector sent shockwaves through Wall Street late on Wednesday, while energy stocks were hit by a sharp drop in the price of crude.
"The ECB's decision wasn't expected so the shock value sent global shares lower on Wednesday but as long as Greeks still have access to the emergency liquidity assistance programme, there should be no major cause for concern," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.
"European matters aside, US markets were actually quite strong in the face of falling oil prices in the last trading session in a sign of endurance that hasn't been present in the past couple of months."
The US trade deficit jumped 17.1% in December, rising to a two-year high, while exports fell 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted $194.9bn and imports rose 2.2% to $241.4bn
"This jump in the deficit is nothing to be overly alarmed about since, rather than a reflection of the stronger dollar, it is mostly due to the volatility of energy imports and exports," said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics.
"Both the price and volume of energy imports will fall sharply in January and we would expect the monthly deficit to be back below $40bn soon."
Initial claims for unemployment benefits in the States increased 11,000 last week but remained at historically-low levels. Jobless claims totalled 278,000 in the week ended 31 January, according to the US Department of Labor, coming in below the 290,000 consensus forecast. Claims for the previous week were revised up by 2,000 to 267,000, but were still at the lowest level since April 2000.
The data comes ahead of Friday's all-important non-farm payrolls report.
In corporate news, Dunkin' Brands Group rose slightly after reporting earnings that fell just short of estimates and announcing a $700m buyback programme.
Philip Morris and Sirius XM Holdings both edged forward in early trading after releasing their results before the opening bell.
Going the other way, Michael Kors shares slid after the luxury designer announced a weaker-than-expected outlook for the fourth quarter and financial year, while Keurig fell over 5% after reporting disappointing quarterly late on Wednesday.
Hospira surged over 36% after The Wall Street Journal reported it would buy the drugmaker for $16bn, while Twitter, LinkedIn, GoPro and Yelp will all report after the close.
The dollar lost almost 1% against the euro and almost 0.5% against the pound but registered a marginal gain against the yen, while gold futures fell 0.20% to $1,262.00. |
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| | Broker Tips | | Broker tips: Astrazeneca, Compass, Beazley The Share Centre has rated Astrazeneca a 'hold' for medium-risk investors after fourth-quarter results from the drugmaker disappointed, saying that investors may have to wait to see material improvements in the top line. Analyst Helal Miah said: "The company is in a transition phase investing heavily into R&D to boost its drugs pipeline with the hope of mitigating falling sales caused by generic competition. While the increase is promising, this does not guarantee that sales will eventually turnaround and we believe that more evidence of progress is needed."
Compass delivered a good start to its new financial year and Numis Securities has upgraded its estimates for the catering company, though the broker still maintained a 'hold' recommendation for investors.
Numis lifted its target for the stock from 975p to 1,150p, but said the "share price is up with events". Nevertheless, the broker admitted that Compass' first-quarter performance was well ahead of its own expectations.
Annual results from insurer Beazley were more or less in line with expectations, according to Westhouse Securities, though the broker has placed its 'neutral' rating under review after recent gains in the stock. | | |
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