Astrazeneca Share News (AZN)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended higher on Friday amid continued optimism over the ongoing trade talks between the US and China.In a post on Twitter this morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described the latest round of high-level US trade talks as "constructive."Mnuchin also said he looks forward to welcoming China's Vice Premier Liu He to continue the important discussions in Washington next week.Additionally, the FTSE 100 was lifted by weakness in the pound as MPs rejected UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal for a third time.The FTSE 100 index closed up 44.86 points to finish 0.6% higher at 7,279.19, ending the week up 1.0%.The FTSE 250 ended 1.1%, or 208.90 points, at 19,117.49, ending the week up 0.6% and the AIM All-Share closed 0.6%, or 5.68 points, at 916.83, ending the week up 0.9%.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.7% at 12,359.33, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.9% at 17,126.05, while the Cboe Small Companies finished up 0.2% at 11,179.08. In Paris the CAC 40 ended 1.0% higher, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.9%. "Optimism that the US and China were moving towards a trade agreement has boosted risk appetite. Whilst any agreement could still be some months in the making, Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow hinted that some tariffs on Chinese imports could be removed. Progress in the US-Sino trade dispute is ensuring a strong end to the quarter for equities, despite lingering concerns over the health of the global economy," said City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta. In the FTSE 100, miners ended in the green with Antofagasta, up 3.6%, Glencore, up 2.0%, Anglo American, up 3.1%, Rio Tinto, up 1.8% and BHP, up 1.7%. "Shanghai's SSE Composite index jumped 3.2% on hopes that the US and China were making progress with trade talks. This optimism also gave a boost to the London-listed natural resources sector with mining shares topping the list of FTSE 100 risers," noted AJ Bell's Russ Mould.At the other end of the large-cap index, AstraZeneca ended as the worst performer, down 5.6%, after the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker launched a USD3.5 billion equity issue as part of a deal to license half the rights to a cancer treatment from Japan's Daiichi Sankyo.The agreement relates to Daiichi Sankyo's drug trastuzumab deruxtecan and will see AstraZeneca pay USD1.35 billion upfront, with further payments linked to sales targets.Under the terms of the deal, the two companies will jointly develop and commercialise trastuzumab deruxtecan worldwide, except in Japan where Daiichi Sankyo will maintain exclusive rights."Astra clearly felt the pipeline needed another shot in the arm, hence the Daiichi Sankyo deal. It's a high risk bet. The drug in question hasn't been approved in any markets, so there's always the risk it falls at the final hurdle and ends up being worth nothing at all," Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Nicholas Hyett said. TUI ended down 4.4% after the Anglo-German travel company warned that the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft will hit annual earnings and will result in a large exceptional charge.Boeing 737 Max aircrafts have been grounded by countries around the world following two fatal crashes in the past five months. Assuming resumption of 737 Max flights by mid-July, TUI is estimating a one-off charge of EUR200 million on adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation for its financial year to the end of September. As a result of the exceptional charge, TUI expects underlying Ebitda for 2019 financial to fall by 17%, versus previous broadly flat guidance.If the plane is not flying by mid-July, the annual hit will be even larger, TUI warned.The pound was quoted at USD1.3024 at the London equities close, marginally lower than USD1.3044 at the close Thursday, after May lost the battle to get her Brexit Withdrawal Agreement backed by the Commons on the day the UK was scheduled to quit the EU.May said she will seek an "alternative way forward" after parliament rejected her Brexit deal for the third time. The House of Commons rejected the deal by 344 to 286 votes.Following the vote, May said the result was a matter of "profound regret," warning that it would have "grave" implications."The legal default now is that the UK is due to leave the EU on April 12," she said. There are concerns that a no-deal exit could cause severe disruptions to trade and create havoc at the borders."This is not enough time to agree, legislate for and ratify a deal, and yet the house has been clear it will not permit leaving without a deal," May said. "And so we will have to agree an alternative way forward".In Brussels, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Twitter that EU leaders will hold a special Brexit summit on April 10 following the latest rejection of the withdrawal agreement.A spokesman said the European Commission is now "fully prepared" for the UK to leave the bloc without a deal on April 12, unless it calls for a longer extension and participates in EU elections in late May."The switch of high profile Conservative MPs such as Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees Mogg raised hopes going into the vote, but without the DUP support this was always likely to prove a fruitless endeavour. Even if the 10 DUP MPs supported the government, the size of the margin still would represent a significant hurdle to overcome. In terms of procedure, the next event to watch is another round of indicative votes scheduled for Monday, but at the risk of sounding skeptical, hopes of a breakthrough their look wishful to say the least," said XTB analyst David Cheatham.The euro stood at USD1.1227 at the European equities close, flat compared to USD1.1223 late Thursday. In economic news from the continent, German unemployment continued its declining trend in March as the jobless rate fell to a record low.The seasonally adjusted jobless rate dropped to a German reunification-low of 4.9% from 5.0%, where it was since November. The easing was in line with economists' expectations.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close amid continued optimism over the ongoing trade talks between the US and China.The DJIA was up 0.3%, the S&P 500 index up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.5%.On the economic front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed personal income in the US increased by slightly less than anticipated in the month of February.The report said personal income rose by 0.2% in February after edging down by 0.1% in January. Economists had expected personal income to climb by 0.3%.Reflecting the continued impact of the recent government shutdown, the Commerce Department also released data on personal spending in January but not February.Last week, the US Federal Reserve abandoned projections for any interest rate hikes in 2019 - after raising rates four times in 2018 - amid concerns over a slowing economy, low inflation and rising headwinds to growth."Domestic demand is clearly now slowing and, with the fiscal boost having faded and higher interest rates taking a heavier toll, we expect that to continue," said Andrew Hunter, senior US economist at Capital Economics.Personal spending inched up by 0.1% in January after falling by 0.6% in December, while economists had expected spending to increase by 0.3%.The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index rose 1.4% on an annual basis in January which followed a 1.8% increase in December.Excluding volatile food and energy components, the PCE price index ticked up 0.1% in January after rising 0.2% in the prior month. The core PCE price index decreased to 1.8% in January from 2.0% in December - missing market expectations of 1.9%. The core PCE index is the Fed's preferred inflation measure. "Low inflation has been a key characteristic of the post-recession decade with inflation systematically undershooting the Fed's 2.0% target. While some still fear a sudden break-out, we believe that low inflation reflects weaker underlying growth dynamics, a more subdued wage-unemployment trade-off, globalisation, corporate concentration and increasingly low and anchored inflation expectations - all likely to remain in place in the long run," said analysts at Oxford Economics. Meanwhile, all eyes were on Lyft on Friday as the ride-hail company made its hotly anticipated stock market debut. Lyft listed on Nasdaq with its initial public offering price at USD72 a share. The IPO price was above the original target range of USD62 to USD68. The stock was trading at USD87.24 a share, up 21% from its IPO price, valuing the Silicon Valley company at around USD24.3 billion. The Uber-rival's IPO was the biggest since Jack Ma's Alibaba in 2014. It marks the start of what is set to be a stellar year in the IPO market in the US, with more "unicorns" - a privately held startup valued at over USD1 billion - set to trot onto public markets. Beloved social media platform Pinterest, room-booking service Airbnb and ride sharing firm Uber are all expected to join the rush of US tech IPOs in 2019. Brent oil was quoted at USD67.55 a barrel at the London equities close, up from USD67.45 at the close Thursday. Gold was quoted at USD1,295.00 an ounce at the London equities close, up from USD1,290.62 late Thursday.The economic events calendar on Monday has manufacturing PMI readings from China at 0245 BST, Italy at 0845 BST, France at 0750 BST, Germany at 0855 BST, eurozone at 0900 BST and UK at 0930 BST. There is also eurozone inflation figures at 0900 BST. The corporate calendar on Monday has a trading statement from engineering services firm Renew Holdings.