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(Alliance News) - European markets rose at Monday's open, kicking off the start of the second half on a positive note, boosted by strong trading in Asia and New York,
The FTSE 100 index opened up 18.52 points, 0.3%, at 7,550.05. The FTSE 250 was up 72.89 points, 0.4%, at 18,489.65, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.65 point, 0.1%, at 754.16.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 753.09, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 16,141.46, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.1% at 13,727.97.
"The FTSE 100 opened marginally higher, helped by the tailwinds of a strong session in Asia and on Wall Street on Friday. But it's still struggling to find significant momentum, dragged down by concerns about growth in China and the wider global economy," commented Hargreaves Lansdown's Susannah Streeter.
In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.3%.
Shares in Tesla were up 5.2% in Frankfurt after the US automaker said deliveries in the second quarter beat market estimates.
The electric car maker delivered 466,140 vehicles, an 83% increase year-on-year and above estimates of 450,000.
"The electric vehicle giant has benefitted from US federal credits which are designed to encourage consumers to shift away from diesel and petrol cars," interactive investor's Victoria Scholar said. "Its strategy to cut prices this year has also paid off amid the macroeconomic headwinds but could weigh on profit margins ahead."
Tesla's production is still a long way below that of major car makers such as Toyota, which produced nearly 950,000 vehicles in May alone this year.
In Asia on Monday, markets took their cue from the strong performance on Wall Street, despite some mixed economic data for the region.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed up 1.7%, with Toyota up 0.7%.
In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 1.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 2.3%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.6%.
Early economic data pointed towards a slowdown in Asian manufacturing.
The Caixin purchasing managers' index for China's manufacturing indicated marginal growth in June, albeit at a slower pace than in May. Meanwhile, the au Jibun Bank PMI for Japan showed its manufacturing sector slipped back into a slight contraction. Respondents in Japan noted especially weak demand from mainland China, with exports orders continuing to fall.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.8%, the S&P 500 up 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.5%. Sentiment was lifted by a cooler-than-expected US inflation print, which boosted hopes that the Federal Reserve's rate-rising spree might be close to an end.
Still, the dollar was firm against other major currencies in early exchanges in Europe on Monday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2670, lower than USD1.2706 at the London equities close on Friday. The euro traded at USD1.0880, lower from USD1.0916. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY144.75, up versus JPY144.58.
In London, supermarket chain Tesco rose 0.9% as it named Gerry Murphy as its new chair from September 1.
Murphy is currently chair of luxury fashion firm Burberry and food supplier Tate & Lyle, and will step down from his role at the latter to "ensure he has sufficient capacity" for his new role at Tesco.
Murphy was also previously CEO at Kingfisher, and has held non-executive directorships at companies including British American Tobacco and Reckitt Benckiser.
Shares in Tate & Lyle fell 0.5%, while Buberry was trading flat.
Anglo American rose 2.3%, as it announced late on Friday that its diamond business, de Beers, reached an eleventh-hour deal with the Botswanan government. This followed months of tense negotiations that saw the continent's top producer threatening to cut ties with the storied diamond company.
The Botswana government and Anglo-American, have reached an "agreement in principle", the two sides said in a statement issued late Friday. The agreement provides for a new 10-year agreement to sell the rough diamonds produced by Debswana – a joint venture equally owned by the government and De Beers – and a 25-year extension of its mining licenses.
AstraZeneca fell 5.9% in early trade - the worst large-cap performer - as it announced high-level results from the Tropian-Lung01 phase III trial.
The trial looked at datopotamab deruxtecan, or Dato-DXd, in advanced non-small cell lung cancer. In patients will locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC treated with at last one prior therapy, the treatment showed a "statistically significant" improvement for the dual primary endpoint of progression-free survival compared to docetaxel, the current standard of care chemotherapy.
However, for the dual primary endpoint of overalll survival, the data "were not mature".
"An early trend was observed in favour of datopotamab deruxtecan versus docetaxel that did not meet the prespecified threshold for statistical significance at this interim analysis," AstraZeneca said.
The trial will continue as planned in order to assess OS with greater security.
On AIM, Yourgene Health more than doubled in value, with its shares reaching 0.47 pence from 0.20p on Friday.
The molecular diagnostic group has agreed a cash takeover offer with Novacyt UK, a wholly-owned subsidiary of fellow AIM listing Novacyt. The offer of 0.522p a share values the company at GBP16.7 million.
Novacyt is a biotechnology group focused on clinical diagnostics. Its shares were up 16%.
"The acquisition combines highly complementary technologies and services, with the enlarged group able to leverage mutual research and development capabilities for ongoing product development and portfolio enhancement to improve the customer offering," the companies said.
Gold was quoted at USD1,916.08 an ounce early Monday, higher than USD1,915.48 on Friday. Brent oil was trading at USD75.28 a barrel, little changed from USD75.58
There are more manufacturing PMI readings to come, including the UK at 0930 BST and the US at 1445 BST.
Financial markets in New York close at 1300 local time on Monday for Independence Day. They stay closed on Tuesday for the US public holiday.
By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News senior markets reporter
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
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