Astrazeneca Share News (AZN)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have opened higher in London Thursday, as investors remain optimistic the European Central Bank will announce substantial stimulus measures later in the session. ECB President Mario Draghi's press conference starts at 1330 GMT.

RSA Insurance share are up 3.3%, after Credit Suisse raised the stock to Outperform from Neutral. Royal Mail shares also are doing well, up 3.4%, after saying it is confident it will meet its own full-year expectations.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 6,742.32
FTSE 250: up 0.2% at 16,288.27
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.2% at 698.88
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Hang Seng: closed up 0.7% at 24,522.63
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.3% at 17,329.02
DJIA: closed up 0.2% at 17,554.28
S&P 500: closed up 0.5% at 2,032.12
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GBP-USD: flat at USD1.5140
EUR-USD: down at USD1.1578

GOLD: down at USD1,285.70 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD48.68 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Thursday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)

All Day World Economic Forum - Davos
09:00 Italy Industrial Orders/Sales
09:30 UK Public Sector Net Borrowing
10:00 Italy Retail Sales
11:00 UK CBI Industrial Trends Survey - Orders
12:45 EU ECB Interest Rate Decision
13:30 EU ECB Monetary policy statement and press conference
13:30 US Jobless Claims
14:00 US Housing Price Index
15:00 EU Consumer Confidence Preliminary
15:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage change
16:00 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks change
16:00 US Kansas Fed manufacturing activity
20:00 US American Petroleum Institute Monthly Report
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European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is set Thursday to launch an aggressive government bond-buying programme as part of the bank's efforts to spur economic growth and head off the threat of deflation in the eurozone. With the bank's refinancing rate at a historic low of 0.05%, Draghi has indicated that the bank does not have much more room to try to fire up the struggling 19-member currency bloc's economy though conventional monetary policy action. This leaves an unprecedented quantitative easing programme based on the purchases of government bonds - reportedly about EUR50 billion a month lasting for at least a year - as one of the bank's last options in its battle to haul the eurozone back from a bout of deflation that could derail the region's growth prospects for the coming years.
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The Bank of Japan assessed that the Japanese economy is recovering at a moderate pace, but inflation is likely to slow, the Monthly Report on Recent Economic and Financial Developments revealed. Japan's economy has continued to recover moderately as a trend as the effects of the decline in demand following the sales tax hike have been waning on the whole, it said. The year-on-year rate of increase in consumer prices is in the range of 0.5-1.0%, the bank noted. In the previous report, the bank had said that the growth in consumer prices was around 1%.
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The top US and EU diplomats vowed in Washington to support a unified sanctions regime against Russia and insisted Moscow abide by the Minsk ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. US Secretary of State John Kerry and the EU's new foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, spoke at a joint press conference in the Treaty Room at the State Department. Mogherini said the trip to Washington, her first trip in office outside the EU, was a sign of the significance of the close EU-US relationship.
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The speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, said he has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak next month to Congress. Boehner invited Netanyahu to speak on February 11 on the threats that radical Islam and Iran pose to Israeli and US security. The White House called Boehner's invitation a breach of normal diplomatic protocol.
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Yemeni President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi and Houthi rebels who have besieged his house for two days struck a deal on Wednesday evening to resolve the crisis. Hadi has conceded some of the key demands set out by rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi in return for the rebels freeing his chief of staff and withdrawing from the presidential palace, according to details reported by both Houthi-controlled media and Hadi loyalists.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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CREDIT SUISSE RAISES RSA INSURANCE TO 'OUTPERFORM' ('NEUTRAL')
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Numis Initiates Al Noor Hospitals With Add Rating, 1,092P Price Target
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Investec Initiates Fever Tree With Buy Rating, 225P Price Target
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Royal Mail said it is confident it will meet its own full-year expectations, after reporting that group revenue was up just 1% in the nine months to December 28, whilst revenue was flat in both its parcels and letters businesses. The slight revenue growth marks a deterioration from the position half way through the mail operator's financial year, when revenue growth had stood at 2%. However, Royal Mail said it was continuing to bear down on costs, and expects underlying operating costs before transformation costs in its main business will be flat for the full year, as it had expected at the half-year stage.
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St James's Place reported a 17% rise in funds under management to GBP52 billion in its last financial year, bolstered by strong new business figures and net inflows as it attracted more than 50,000 new clients. In a statement, the wealth management and financial advice group said that new business sales rose by 17% to GBP895.6 on an annual premium equivalent basis in 2014. In addition, third party new business, which arises from advice given on products and services of third party providers, rose to GBP598.1 million from GBP591.1 million.
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Tullow Oil announced a set of mixed results for its Kenyan prospects, with one well plugged and abandoned but seismic surveys showing improved prospects elsewhere. The company said the Epir-1 exploration well, located at Block 10BB in the North Kerio Basin, did not show an oil discovery, but had oil and wet gas shows over a 100 metre interval of non-reservoir quality rocks. Tullow said the results showed a working petroleum system in the basin and said further exploration activities will be considered for the North Kerio basin, but said the well itself would be plugged and abandoned, with the drilling rig to move to the Ekales-2 location in the South Lokichar basin. Elsewhere, Tullow has completed the survey on oil discoveries in the western South Lokichar basin. Tullow said initial evaluation of the 3D seismic data available has show significantly improved structural data and additional prospectivity which had not been available in the 2D seismic data.
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AstraZeneca said the European Medicines Agency has accepted its marketing authorisation application for its gout treatment lesinurad 200 milligram tablets. Lesinurad is used for the chronic treatment of hyperuricaemia in combination with xanthine oxidase inhibitors allopurinol or febuxostat in gout patients when additional therapy is warranted, AstraZeneca said.
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Building materials business Wolseley said it has decided to explore exit options for its remaining building materials business in France, saying it was continuing to apply "disciplined resource allocation principles to all of its businesses".
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US media company Discovery Communications Inc has emerged as a potential challenger to BT Group and Sky for the upcoming Premier League football rights auction, the Financial Times reported. David Zaslav, Discovery's chief executive, travelled to London this week to hold talks with the Premier League, the FT said, citing people familiar with the matter. This year's auction is among the most anticipated ever held, with analysts expecting the value of the rights to increase by around 30% to GBP4 billion for the three years starting with the 2016-17 season.
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Smiths Group said it has signed an agreement with US telecoms group AT&T Inc for expansion of its global communication services infrastructure for the next six years. The agreement is valued at USD100 million would help Smiths Group to securely connect its 23,000 employees across 450 offices in more than 50 countries.
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Mike Ashley's MASH Holdings Ltd has transferred a 50.71% stake in Sports Direct International to MASH Beta Ltd, a subsidiary of the investment vehicle, according to a statement issued late on Wednesday, meaning the entrepreneur still owns a 55.14% stake in the FTSE 100 sports retailer. The news means that MASH Holdings now holds about 26.5 million shares, a 4.43% stake, in Sports Direct, while MASH Beta holds the remainder of Ashley's stake, some 303.5 million shares. Earlier on Wednesday, Sports Direct had said that Ashley had sold 15.4 million Sports Direct shares, representing a 2.57% holding, at 720 pence per share, which reduced his stake to its current level.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Balfour Beatty's new chief executive admitted he has a lot of work to do to turn around the business after it cut expected 2014 profits from its UK construction business by a further GBP70 million following a review of the business, whilst raising its own valuation of its public-private partnership portfolio to GBP1.30 billion in the wake of a recent acquisition approach.
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John Laing Infrastructure Fund said it has completed a deal to buy the remaining 20% it does not already own of the Kirklees Social Housing project. John Laing did not provide any financial details on the acquisition.
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Countrywide said it expects to deliver record results for the year, though it reported a deterioration in market conditions over the course of 2014. Countrywide said it expects its revenue for the year to the end of December to be up 20%, with revenue rising 5% to GBP179.3 million in the fourth quarter.
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Oxford Instruments issued a profit warning as its orders were hit by Russian sanctions, it saw weaker trading in its Industrial Analysis business, and recovery it had forecast for the Japanese market has not yet occurred. The technology tools and systems provider now expects to post a pretax profit adjusted for acquisition and related costs of around GBP35 million for the year to end-March, compared to an adjusted pretax profit of GBP47.1 million a year before.
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Card Factory said it is trading in line with its expectations for the year on the back of a rise in revenue in the first eleven months as like-for-like sales rose despite strong comparables. Card Factory said for the 11 months to the end of December, revenue rose 8.1%. Like-for-like sales rose 1.8%, despite a strong comparable for last year when like-for-like sales increased 3.1%.
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London-focused commercial property company CLS Holdings said it expects to beat the market for the full year. In a short trading statement, FTSE 250-listed CLS said it expects its financial results for the year to December 31 to be materially ahead of current market expectations on the back of a significant rise in the value of its London property portfolio.
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Playtech said it continued to trade well in the fourth quarter and expects to meet the market for the year. In a brief trading update, the FTSE 250-listed gaming software company said it expects revenue and adjusted earnings before income, taxation, depreciation and amortisation to be "comfortably" in line with market estimates.
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Office space provider Workspace Group said its rent roll rose 5.1% over the course of the third quarter of its financial year, whilst like-for-like occupancy of its buildings also rose.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Monitise put itself up for sale as the payments company warned that it no longer expects to report double-digit revenue growth for the 2015 financial year, while its EBITDA loss is also likely to widen from that reported in the prior year. Monitise, which had previously guided revenue to grow by at least 25%, now expects full-year revenue to be between GBP90 million and GBP100 million, compared with GBP95.1 million in its last financial year, as it reported a fall in first-half revenue to GBP42.4 million from GBP46.5 million. Citing weakness in its share price, feedback from shareholders and developments in the payments industry, Monitise said it is launching a review of all its options in order to maximise value for shareholders. The company has called in investment bankers from Moelis & Company UK LLP to provide financial advice, while its nominated adviser and broker, Canaccord Genuity, will also help with the strategic review.
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Gulf Keystone Petroleum said it has appointed Sami Zouari as its chief financial officer, succeeding interim Chief Financial Officer Mary Hood, who will now step into a deputy chief financial officer role. Zouari most recently served as regional head of corporate and investment banking for North Africa, Iraq and Oman at BNP Paribas SA.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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JPMorgan Chase has lost a court fight with unsecured creditors of the bankrupt predecessor of automaker General Motors over a USD1.5 billion bank loan, according to media reports. Creditors of GM's predecessor had reportedly sought a ruling that the loan from JPMorgan should not be considered as a secured debt in GM's bankruptcy and should be treated as an unsecured debt. The creditors wanted JPMorgan to give up its rights to collateral securing the loan. According to media reports, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan ruled in favor of the creditors.
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German lender Commerzbank is planning to cut about 100 jobs in London and move another 340 as it concentrates foreign exchange and interest-rate trading in Frankfurt, Bloomberg reported.
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American Express reported a higher fourth-quarter profit, driven mainly by a gain from the sale of its investment in Concur Technologies, as well as higher card member spending and net interest income, partly offset by loan-loss provision and expenses. American Express posted quarterly net income to stockholders of USD1.44 billion or USD1.39 per share, compared with USD1.3 billion or USD1.21 per share last year.
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E-commerce giant eBay Inc said its fourth quarter profit rose 10% from last year, driven by enabled commerce volume growth of 21%. The company's quarterly earnings per share, excluding items, just managed to beat analysts' estimate, but its quarterly revenue fell shy of analysts' forecast. At the same time, the company gave disappointing outlooks for the first quarter and the full year 2015.
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Internet search engine Google Inc wants to sell wireless service through Sprint and T-Mobile, The Information reported. The company is said to be preparing plans to sell mobile plans that will run on the cellular networks of these two carriers. Google will pay Sprint and T-Mobile for access to their networks. The project is codenamed "Nova" and is not expected to launch this year.
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Microsoft on Wednesday showcased Windows 10, the much-awaited new version of its operating system, as it pushes to usher in a new era of more personal computing, as well as two new devices designed to extend the Windows experience from large screens to no screens. The software giant said Windows 10 will run across a broad range of devices - from Xbox to PCs and phones to tablets and tiny gadgets - and would be delivered as a service to offer a safer and innovative experience for the supported lifetime of the device.
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Thursday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Keystone Investment Trust
Cardiff Property Group
Polo Resources
Global Resources Investment Trust
Topps Tiles
Tracsis
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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