Ashmore Share News (ASHM)

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Friday, with the FTSE 100 returning to pre-pandemic levels, following strong economic growth figures from China.

The FTSE 100 index was up 31.90 points, or 0.4%, at 7,015.40 - breaching the 7,000 mark for the first time since February 2020.

The mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 79.27 points, or 0.4%, at 22,551.04. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.2% at 1,250.10.

The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.4% at 698.40. The Cboe 250 was up 0.3% at 20,154.30. The Cboe Small Companies was up 0.1% at 14,568.75.

In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.2% and 0.3% respectively.

The Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney ended 0.1% lower.

China's economy expanded at its fastest pace on record in the first quarter of 2021, data showed, in a sharp turnaround from the historic contraction caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The 18% explosion in gross domestic product from a year ago was the fastest pace since quarterly records began three decades ago, accelerating sharply from growth of 6.5% in the fourth quarter.

The world's second largest economy was the only major one to grow at all in 2020, supported by strong retail spending and industrial activity as well as better-than-expected exports as the coronavirus hit markets around the world.

Robert Alster, chief investment officer at Close Brothers Asset Management said: "These numbers make clear that the Chinese economy has, at this point, passed the Covid-19 test with flying colours compared to the West.

"Looking forward, Beijing has indicated that stimulus measures will be withdrawn gradually to keep supporting growth. This message, set against a backdrop of a very achievable 6% growth target for 2021, will provide comfort to world markets at a time of uncertainty."

In the FTSE 100, Experian was the best performer, up 2.2%, after Goldman Sachs upgraded the credit checking agency to Buy from Neutral.

BP was up 1.1% after HSBC raised the oil major to Buy from Hold.

At the other end of the large-caps, precious metals miner Fresnillo was the worst performer, down 1.0%, tracking spot gold prices lower. Gold was quoted at USD1,754.70 an ounce Friday morning, down from USD1,766.35 late Thursday.

In the FTSE 250, WH Smith was the best performer, up 3.7%, after RBC Capital upgraded the books and stationery retailer to Outperform from Sector Perform.

Ashmore was up 2.2% despite reporting a reduction in assets under management over its third quarter.

Assets under management stood at USD89.9 billion at the end of March, down 3.3% on USD93.0 billion at the end of December. While the emerging markets-focused asset manager recorded net inflows of USD1.5 billion, this was offset by a negative investment performance of USD4.6 billion.

The quarter saw a continuation of the improving trend of the past twelve months, Ashmore said, as investors recognise the "strong recovery" in emerging markets.

Grafton Group was 0.3% higher. The Irish building materials firm said it is mulling the potential sale of its UK traditional merchant businesses, as part of a strategic review.

At the other end of the midcaps, TI Fluid was the worst performer, down 7.5% at 285.00p. Goldman Sachs placed 54.4 million shares in the automotive fluid systems manufacturer at 280p to raise GBP146.8 million. The shares were sold on behalf of Bill Kozyra and BC Omega, which retains a 44% stake.

Dixons Carphone was 3.5% lower after RBC downgraded the electrical goods and mobile phone retailer to Sector Perform from Outperform.

On the IPO front, NFT Investments, which invests in non-fungible tokens, said its IPO raise of GBP35 million was a record for the Aquis Stock Exchange. NFT said the placing was oversubscribed with an order book in excess of GBP100 million. It began trading on AQSE on Friday at 5.25 pence, up 5.0% from its listing price of 5.0p.

The pound was quoted at USD1.3738 early Friday lower from USD1.3788 at the London equities close on Thursday.

The euro was priced at USD1.1961, flat from USD1.1965. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY108.87, up from JPY108.71.

Brent oil was trading at USD67.38 a barrel Friday morning, up sharply from USD66.58 late Thursday.

The economic events calendar on Friday has eurozone inflation figures at 1000 BST.

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

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