Barclays Share News (BARC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks opened sharply lower in London Friday, amid a raft of global economic data and a flurry of smaller UK company announcements to beat the quarter-end deadline.

The only three FTSE 100 gainers at the open were gold miners Fresnillo, Randgold Resources and Polymetal International, tracking a firm spot gold price.

Banks Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland were the biggest blue-chip fallers in early deals, down just over 4%, amid continued concerns about the health of Deutsche Bank. RBS also unveiled its plans for its new legal structure to comply with the UK's new ring-fencing requirements, including adopting 'NatWest' as its main brand outside Scotland.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
----------
MARKETS
----------
FTSE 100: down 1.3% at 6,829.87
FTSE 250: down 1.4% at 17,606.86
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.3% at 818.02
----------
Hang Seng: down 1.6% at 23,351.50
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.5% at 16,449.84
DJIA: closed down 1.1% at 18,143.45
S&P 500: closed down 0.9% at 2,151.13
----------
GBP: down at USD1.2956 (USD1.2985)
EUR: down at USD1.1207 (USD1.1244)

GOLD: up at USD1,323.00 per ounce (USD1,318.44)
OIL (Brent): flat at USD49.15 a barrel (USD49.20)

(changes since previous London equities close)
----------
ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
----------
Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

0900 Italy unemployment
0930 UK gross domestic product
0930 UK business investment
0930 UK index of services
0930 UK current account
1000 EU unemployment rate
1000 EU consumer price index preliminary
1000 Italy consumer price index preliminary
1100 Italy producer price index
1330 US personal income and spending
1330 US personal consumption expenditures - price index
1330 Canada industrial product and raw material price indices
1330 Canada gross domestic product
1445 US Chicago purchasing managers' index
1500 US Reuters/Michigan consumer sentiment index
1800 US Baker Hughes US oil rig count
----------
Consumer confidence in the UK continued to rebound in September from the surprising referendum a few months earlier for the country to exit the EU, according to GfK. The statistical agency's sentiment index showed a score of -1 for the month - remaining negative for the seventh consecutive month. But that beat forecasts for -5 and was up sharply from -7 in August. "Optimism is returning to UK consumers following the dramatic collapse in confidence after the recent Brexit result," said Joe Staton, head of market dynamics at GfK.
----------
London mayor Sadiq Khan has called a proposed hike in business rates "a real kick in the teeth" for the capital's companies. London is set to bear the brunt of a major review of business rates, which will see bills fall in every other region. Business rates across London will rise by an average of 11%. But some companies are expecting to see their bills potentially double, with detailed valuations due to be published on Friday.
----------
Bank customers are still being left "exposed" after a series of IT failures at Britain's biggest lenders, a senior Conservative MP has warned. Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the influential House of Commons Treasury Committee, is calling on regulators the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority to take action to strengthen the resilience and security of bank IT systems. He cautioned that customers remained "more exposed than necessary" to the risks of IT failures and were ultimately left "paying the price".
----------
The UK's national probe into child sex abuse will not work in its current form, a key group representing victims and survivors has warned. The Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was thrown into disarray after the resignation of its senior lawyer, prompting calls for it to be broken up. Chairwoman Professor Alexis Jay said she had accepted Ben Emmerson QC's decision to step down from the post of senior counsel after two years.
----------
The manufacturing sector in China moved barely to expansion territory in September, the latest survey from Caixin revealed with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.1. That's up from stagnation at 50.0 in August and represents expansion. Individually, there was growth in new work purchasing activity, although employment continued to contract. Inflationary pressures started to show signs of picking up.
----------
Industrial output in Japan gained 1.5% on month in August, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.5% following the 0.4% decline in July. On a yearly basis, output jumped 4.6% - also topping forecasts for a gain of 3.4% after sliding 4.2% in the previous month.
----------
Overall consumer prices in Japan were down 0.5% on year in August, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. That matched expectations following the 0.4% decline in July. Core CPI, which excludes food prices, also was down 0.5% - in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous month.
----------
The jobless rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 3.1% in August, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. That was above forecasts for 3.0%, which would have been unchanged from the previous month.
----------
Germany's retail sales decreased at a faster-than-expected pace in August, after rising in the previous month, data from Destatis showed. Retail sales fell a calendar and seasonally-adjusted 0.4% month-over-month in August, exceeding economists' expectations for a 0.2% drop.
----------
One person was killed and 108 injured when a commuter train hurtled into a rail terminal and struck a barrier Thursday in New Jersey, just outside New York City, authorities said. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the train carrying morning commuters "came in at much too high a speed" when it reached the end of the line in the Hoboken station. The person who was killed was on the platform, news reports said. Officials at several hospitals where the injured were treated said most of the injuries were minor. An official with the National Transportation Safety Board said the driver of the train was among the injured but had been released from hospital.
----------
US officials have advised pregnant women to delay travel to 11 South-East Asian countries because of the "uncertain risk of Zika virus infection". The countries include Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Thailand, East Timor and Vietnam.
----------
Leaders from across the world were in Jerusalem on Friday to attend the burial of former Israeli president Shimon Peres, one of the country's dominant political figures for six decades. Peres' body was scheduled to be moved from the Knesset building to Mount Herzl, the city's national cemetary, at 8:30 am local time, with the ceremony and corresponding eulogies starting an hour later. About 3,000 guests were expected at the burial, family members said.
----------
Scientists behind the historic Rosetta mission have said their goodbyes to the spacecraft as it entered the final stage of its kamikaze descent on to a comet. The GBP1 billion quest to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is due to end with a crunch at around 11.38 BST on Friday. Rosetta will share its resting place with a tiny lander it dispatched onto the surface nearly two years ago, spelling the end of the daring expedition that began in 2004. Scientists at the European Space Agency set the orbiter on a collision course with the rubber duck-shaped chunk of ice and dust on Thursday evening.
----------
BROKER RATING CHANGES
----------
TRADERS: HSBC RAISES INTU PROPERTIES TO 'HOLD' ('REDUCE')
----------
GOLDMAN RAISES CAPITA TO 'NEUTRAL' (CONVICTION SELL) - TARGET 771 (987) P
----------
GOLDMAN RAISES CAPITA TO 'NEUTRAL' ('CONVICTION SELL LIST') - TARGET 771 (987) PENCE
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 100
----------
Royal Bank of Scotland Group outlined its plans to change its legal entity structure in compliance with the UK's new ring-fencing requirements, including migrating the majority of its UK and Western European business to an intermediate holding company in 2017 and adopting 'NatWest' as its main brand outside Scotland. RBS said it intends to set up an intermediate holding company for the ring-fenced banks within its structure named NatWest Holdings Ltd at the beginning of 2017, which will assume direct ownership of National Westminster Bank PLC, Adam & Co PLC and Ulster Bank Ireland DAC. Corporate & Institutional Banking activities and the RBS International business will remain outside the ring-fenced group. The Corporate & Institutional business will remain in the current RBS PLC, to be renamed NatWest Markets PLC. RBS said its NatWest, Ulster Bank and Coutts and Co businesses will all continue under their own brands and it intends to make NatWest its "main customer facing brand" over the coming months in England and Wales and Western Europe, while in Scotland it continues under the core brand of Royal Bank of Scotland.
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 250
----------
Defence and aerospace technology firm QinetiQ Group said it has secured a GBP109.0 million, 11-year contract extension with the UK Ministry of Defence. The contract will cover Royal Navy mission systems and infrastructure through work to be carried out at the Portsdown Technology Park in Portsmouth. The deal is an extension of an agreement first signed in 2012.
----------
Online financial trading provider IG Group Holdings said it has struck a USD40.0 million deal to acquire news and research portal DailyFX from FXCM. DailyFX provides news, research and analysis on the foreign exchange market. IG said it anticipates the acquisition will deliver enough extra new clients that it will be earnings enhancing by the company's 2018 financial year.
----------
Entertainment One said its full-year performance will be in line with management expectations. The entertainment content provider said its operating performance to date is on track across all its divisions, with a "strong committed film and television slate underpinning the second half of the financial year" to the end of March 2017. In the US, the division has seen even stronger-than-expected demand for Peppa Pig merchandise across a number of product categories, Entertainment One said, while in China the show has surpassed six billion views on local on-demand platforms.
----------
Tullow Oil said it has received confirmation that there is a "recoverable claim" from its business interruption insurance following the damaged turret bearing on the vessel serving the Jubilee field earlier this year that hit production and revenue. Tullow had confirmed last week that the hull and machinery cover would compensate the company for the capital and operating costs associated with the implementing new operating procedures at the project and finding a long term solution. The business interruption insurance covers "loss of revenues as a result of production outages". That is significant as Tullow has had to reduce its production guidance for this year as a result of the problems.
----------
Grainger said it has agreed to forward purchase a build-to-rent development in Leeds city centre for GBP40.0 million, which will deliver 250 private rented sector homes. The residential landlord said it has entered into the agreement with YP Real Estates, with the site located on the former Yorkshire Post Gateway site.
----------
COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
----------
Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror said it remains confident it will meet market expectations for the full year, despite trading conditions continuing to prove challenging. Trinity Mirror said trading in the third quarter to the end of September was still difficult, with revenue declining around 9.0% on a like-for-like basis from a year before, compared to an 8.0% fall in the first half of the year. Publishing revenue will fall around 10% year-on-year, while print revenue will drop around 12%. Digital revenue, however, will rise around 11%.
----------
Premier Foods said Chairman David Beever will step down from his role in 2017, in order to reduce his work commitments. Beever will have spent nine years on the board of the company, including five years as chairman. Premier Foods said it will now commence the search for an external successor.
----------
Online trading platform provider Plus500 said it has been granted a licence to operate in Israel, operating a platform for retail customers to trade contracts for difference. Plus500 said its Israeli operating subsidiary Plus500IL has been granted the licence by the Israel Securities Authority.
----------
Biotherapeutics developer 4D Pharma said its loss nearly halved in the first half of 2016 due to a reduction in operating costs and research and development spending. The company said it made a GBP5.5 million pretax loss in the six months to the end of June, compared to a GBP10.1 million loss a year prior. The firm does not generate any revenue, so the loss was driven by lower operating and research and development costs.
----------
Gulf Keystone Petroleum said the court hearing regarding its proposed financial restructuring with its note and bond holders has resulted in the scheme of arrangement being sanctioned. Gulf Keystone did not reveal any other information but said the sanctioning means it can progress the restructuring as planned.
----------
COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
----------
Qualcomm is reportedly in talks to buy NXP Semiconductors, in a deal that is valued at over USD30 billion, as the semiconductor industry continues to consolidate. According to a WSJ report, the companies could ink a deal in the next two to three months. Qualcomm is also exploring other deal options. Netherlands-based NXP has a market capitalization of about USD28 billion. It supplies chip for the auto industry.
----------
Alcoa, the largest producer of aluminum in the US, announced that its board of directors has approved the completion of the company's separation into two independent, publicly-traded companies Arconic Inc and Alcoa Corp. The separation is scheduled to become effective before the opening of the market on November 1.
----------
The US Justice Department announced that Wells Fargo Bank., has agreed to change its policies and pay over USD4.1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act by repossessing 413 cars owned by servicemembers without obtaining a court order.
----------
Friday's Shareholder Meetings

City Of London Group
IPPlus
Tiger Resources Finance (re capital reorganisation)
1pm
Provexis
UniVision Engineering
Tricor
Associated British Engineering
Miton Global Opportunities
----------
By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.