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LONDON (Alliance News) - Miners were leading a rebound in London share prices early Tuesday, after a fairly poor set of Chinese economic data was declared by analysts as not as bad as feared.
Anglo America, Glencore, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and BHP Biliton were the top five blue-chip gainers at the open. Rio Tinto also provided a production update Tuesday.
Burberry shares were in demand as well on the Chinese economic reading and after being upgraded to Buy from Neutral by UBS.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 2.1% at 5,896.18
FTSE 250: up 1.3% at 16,161.52
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.4% at 690.56
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Hang Seng: closed up 2.1% at 19,635.81
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.6% at 17,048.37
DJIA and S&P 500: market closed for holiday
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GBP: up at USD1.4291 (USD1.4270)
EUR: down at USD1.0870 (USD1.0884)
GOLD: up at USD1,091.03 per ounce (USD1,089.40)
OIL (Brent): up at USD29.44 a barrel (USD28.60)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)
09:00 EU Current Account
09:30 UK Consumer, Retail and Producer Price indices
09:30 UK DCLG House Price Index
10:00 Germany ZEW Survey
10:00 EU ZEW Survey
10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
10:00 EU Construction Output
11:00 UK BOE Governor Carney speech
15:00 US NAHB Housing Market Index
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The Chinese economy expanded at the slowest pace in 25 years as the nation strives to shift its focus to domestic consumption and away from exports. Economic growth eased to 6.9% in 2015, the least since 1990, from 7.3% in the previous year, data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed. This also was slower than the government's full-year target of about 7.0%. In the fourth quarter, gross domestic product grew 6.8% year-over-year, while economists expected the growth rate to remain unchanged at 6.9%. This was the weakest growth since 2009.
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Meanwhile, Chinese industrial production grew at a weaker pace of 5.9% year-over-year in December following November's 6.2% rise. The expected rate of increase was 6.0%. Likewise, retail sales climbed 11.1% in December, slightly weaker than prior month's 11.2% increase and the 11.3% rise expected by economists.
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Germany's consumer price inflation reached its lowest level since 2009, data from Destatis revealed. Inflation eased to 0.3% in 2015 from 0.9% in 2014. The year-on-year rate of price increase has been declining since 2011, Destatis said. Such a low inflation was last recorded in 2009, when the rate was 0.3%. The slowdown was largely driven by a sharp 7% decrease in energy product prices. At the same time, the harmonized index of consumer prices gained 0.1% in 2015 from last year. The statistical office confirmed the preliminary figures for both consumer and harmonized consumer prices for December.
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Pakistan's prime minister met Saudi King Salman in Riyadh on the first leg of trip that officials in Islamabad said was an effort to ease tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Premier Nawaz Sharif planned to fly to Tehran on Tuesday to meet Iranian President Hassan Rowhani, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said. The official Saudi Press Agency gave no details of the discussions between the Pakistani and Saudi leaders, saying only that they talked about "bilateral relations...and regional and international developments."
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Syrian regime troops fought fierce battles against Islamic State militants as they mounted a push towards one of the jihadist organization's main strongholds in the north of the country, activists and a monitoring group said. After several days of fighting south of the town of al-Bab, the clashes intensified on Monday and were accompanied by Russian airstrikes, activist Omar al-Halabi said from nearby rebel-held eastern Aleppo city.
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The EU's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, announced plans for a high-level visit to Iran in the coming months, to explore areas of cooperation with Tehran now that sanctions related to its nuclear programme have been lifted. The West ended wide-ranging economic measures on Iran at the weekend, after experts confirmed that Tehran had kept its side of a landmark agreement with six major powers to significantly curb its nuclear programme.
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EU foreign ministers are concerned that there is insufficient progress on reforms in Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. "There are shortcomings in the area of justice, especially the fight against corruption," he told journalists in Brussels after talks with his EU counterparts. The EU has stood by Ukraine as it has faced a pro-Russian separatism in the east and tensions with Moscow. But ministers also underlined on Monday the necessity for Kiev to uphold its end of a peace deal that has been agreed to with Russia.
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Parliament on Monday debated a petition to ban US Republican party presidential hopeful Donald Trump from the UK for "hate speech," a reaction to Trump's call for a ban on Muslims entering the US. The debate came after some 575,000 people signed a petition on the parliament's website, with 43,000 supporting an alternative petition not to ban Trump. The government is required to respond to any petition attracting more than 100,000 supporters and consider it for a parliamentary debate. However, no vote was planned on Monday. Prime Minister David Cameron said he did not support a ban on Trump, but he said the US presidential candidate's statement was "divisive, unhelpful and, quite simply, wrong."
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BARCLAYS RAISES ASTRAZENECA TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' ('UW') - PRICE TARGET 5000 (4400) PENCE
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UBS CUTS SIG TO 'SELL' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 125 (145) PENCE
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UBS RAISES BURBERRY TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 1500 (1400) PENCE
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CITIGROUP INITIATES SERCO WITH 'NEUTRAL' - TARGET 90 PENCE
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CITIGROUP CUTS SAVILLS TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 890 (1035) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Unilever reported a fall in profit in 2015 but growth in revenue as it warned of volatile times ahead. The food, home and personal care product supplier said pretax profit in 2015 fell 6% to EUR7.22 billion from EUR7.64 billion in 2014, although revenue grew 10% to EUR53.27 billion from EUR48.43 billion. Underlying sales grew 4.1%, ahead of its 2% to 4% guided growth range. Unilever said that consumer demand remained fragile, while currency devaluation also harmed results, but that it achieved volume growth. Unilever will pay a quarterly dividend of EUR0.302 per share.
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Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto reported its fourth-quarter global iron ore production was 87.2 million tonnes, up 10% from the year-ago quarter. Global iron ore shipments for the quarter improved 11% to 91.3 million tonnes. Global iron ore production in 2016 is expected to be around 350 million tonnes. Rio Tinto's expected share of production of bauxite, alumina and aluminium is 45 million tonnes, 7.8 million tonnes and 3.6 million tonnes, respectively. In 2016, Rio Tinto expects its share of mined copper production to increase to between 575 and 625 thousand tonnes, with higher production at Kennecott, and including an expected share of joint venture production at Grasberg. Refined copper production is expected to be between 220 and 250 thousand tonnes.
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Prudential sought to demonstrate the strength of its capital position under new rules governing insurers across the European Union, as new Chief Executive Mike Wells put middle classes across Asia, Europe and the US at the heart of the group's strategy. Prudential provided the update ahead of an investor conference set to be held Tuesday. The conference has been seen as an opportunity for Wells to reassure the market about the sustainability of growth in areas such as Hong Kong, in what is the chief executive's first major interaction with the market since succeeding Tidjane Thiam last summer. Prudential reported a solvency capital ratio - a measure of an insurer's own funds as a percentage of the regulatory requirement - of 190% as of June 30, 2015, under the new Solvency II rules, which came into force at the start of 2016. The group reported a Solvency II surplus of GBP9.2 billion at the same stage, before allowing for the interim dividend paid last year.
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Property developer British Land Co said it had a solid third quarter and said it will edge up its dividend payout, as the office and retail property markets in the UK remained strong. The group said it secured 312,000 square feet of leasing activity in its retail and offices portfolios in the quarter to the end of December, with these leases secured at an average of 8.5% ahead of the estimated rental value of the properties at the end of September.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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IG Group Holdings, which enables retail customers to bet on financial assets through derivative products, said the second half of the financial year has started well, after reporting a slight fall in pretax profit in the opening six months. IG said pretax profit fell 2.8% to GBP98.6 million in the six months ended November 30, from GBP101.4 million in the corresponding half the prior year. The group maintained its interim dividend at 8.45 pence per share.
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Cairn Energy said the majority of its spending in the next two years will focus on its Senegal project, as it said progress had been made at its Mauritania and North Sea sites, and said it remains confident on its tax dispute with India. The oil and gas exploration and production company said it expects its development spending to hit USD492.0 million for 2016 and 2017, with the majority of the spending to focus on its projects in Senegal.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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ScS Group said profit will beat market expectations in its full year after achieving strong trading over the Christmas and January sales period. The furniture and floorings company said trading in the holiday period was strong, resulting in total like-for-like order intake in the 25 weeks ended January 16 growing 8.8% year-on-year. As a result, ScS now expects profit in its full year to "significantly" beat current market expectations.
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Local newspaper publisher Johnston Press said its underlying earnings should meet market expectations for the full year, despite revenue declining. The group said its underlying revenue, which strips out exceptional items, fell 7.0% in the 52 weeks to January 2. Digital revenue was up 12%, but this was more than offset by an 8.0% decline in publishing revenue and 12% fall in print advertising revenue.
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MySale Group reported a swing to earnings in the first half of its financial year as it achieved revenue growth in each of the regions in which it operates, something it said it expects to continue at the same rate in the second half. The online retailer, which delivers flash sales sites in Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia and the UK, said it made underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of AUD1.5 million in the six months to December 31, which is a AUD12.9 million improvement on the first half of the prior year during which it made a AUD11.4 million loss. Revenue, meanwhile, grew 4% in the period, while gross profit increased 16% driven by a 250 basis points improvement in gross margin.
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Quantum Pharma said its adjusted earnings for the full year will miss market expectations due to delays in its niche pharmaceuticals pipeline. Quantum said its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation for the year to the end of January will be around GBP12.7 million, compared to market expectations for GBP13.7 million. The group said its niche pharmaceuticals arm experienced delays in its pipeline, which an internal review by the company put down to internal management and processes, supply chain issues and regulatory delays.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Samsung Electronics said that it has begun mass production of 4-gigabyte DRAM package based on the second-generation High Bandwidth Memory interface, for use in high performance computing or HPC, advanced graphics and network systems, as well as enterprise servers. Samsung noted that its new HBM solution will offer DRAM performance - more than seven times faster than the current DRAM performance limit, allowing faster responsiveness for high-end computing tasks including parallel computing, graphics rendering and machine learning.
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Chevron Corp said its Australian subsidiaries have signed a non-binding Heads of Agreement with ENN LNG Trading Co for the delivery of liquefied natural gas or LNG to China from the Chevron-operated Gorgon natural gas project in Australia. When the deal is finalized, ENN is expected to receive up to 0.5 million metric tons per annum or MTPA of LNG over 10 years, with deliveries starting in 2018 or the first half of 2019.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs
Troy Income & Growth Trust
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite
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