Barclays Share News (BARC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended broadly in the green on Friday, as the FTSE 100 touched a fresh four-month high amid US-China trade talk optimism. Stock markets across the globe rallied after media reports said the US and China had reached consensus on certain key areas on trade during the meeting held this week.A statement from the White House said high level US-China trade talks this week led to "progress between the two parties" but noted "much work remains." The US trade secretary Steven Mnuchin tweeted that the meetings in Beijing were "productive", although he offered no further details.The White House said the US hopes to see additional progress as discussions at the ministerial and vice-ministerial levels continue in Washington next week.The FTSE 100 index closed up 39.67 points, or 0.6% at 7,236.68, ending the week up 2.3. The large cap index hit a fresh four month high of 7,261.63 in afternoon trade. The FTSE 250 ended up 89.03 points or 0.5% at 18,987.23 ending the week up 1.8%. The AIM All-Share closed down 4.07 points, or 0.5% at 907.59, ending the week up 0.3%.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.5% at 12,293.20, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.4% at 16,912.86, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.1% at 11,210.74.In Paris the CAC 40 ended 1.8%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended 1.9%. "European markets charged higher and Wall Street opened on a positive footing, following reports that US and China had reached a consensus in principle on key topics in the trade negotiations. The promise of further talks next week has ignited optimism in the markets as the world's two largest economies scramble to reach a deal before the March deadline," said City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta.In the FTSE 100, Coca-Cola HBC closed up 4.0% as the second best performer after the soft drinks bottler clawed back some of its losses on Thursday after it warned that growth in some markets will slow in 2019. The stock closed down 8.6% on Thursday, ending the week 3.0% lower. Royal Bank of Scotland closed up 2.4% after the state-backed lender posted its second consecutive year of profit and rewarding shareholders with a special dividend. The lender however, warned it may not yet be out of the woods due to further expected strategic costs in 2019.The bank's attributable profit for 2018 came in at GBP1.62 billion, beating consensus of GBP1.42 billion. In 2017, when RBS reported its first profit in a decade, the figure was GBP752 million. Net interest income for 2018 was GBP8.66 billion, against GBP8.65 billion consensus and GBP8.99 billion a year prior.RBS declared a 7.5 pence per share special dividend for 2018, and will pay a final dividend of 3.5p. Combined with the bank's 2.0p interim payout, the year's total payout is 13p.The UK government holds a 62.4% stake in RBS, but shareholders recently backed company plans to buy back up to GBP1.5 billion worth of shares from the government.In addition, RBS said it remains "comfortable" with its 2020 return on tangible equity target of more than 12% but recognises its cost-income ratio target of less than 50% is "increasingly challenging". RBS blamed Brexit for the doubt. "The 12% target by 2020 is already a significant challenge and would probably be impossible in a disorderly Brexit. CEO Ross McEwan's lucid dividend hike has helped extend RBS stock's climb to about 14% so far this year as confidence in the increasingly well-run bank builds. It's uncertain how much benefit of the doubt investors will credit the group if chances of a no-deal Brexit rise," said CityIndex analyst Ken Odeluga. Peers Lloyds and Barclays, which both report full year results next week, closed up 1.8% and 1.6% respectively. "UK banks take centre stage next week, following on from strong numbers from RBS. The sector seems in good shape, despite Brexit, although much depends on the shape of the world post-29 March. This is still too tough to call, but this week has shown that stalemate is still the order of the day," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.Tesco closed up 2.9% after the UK's largest supermarket said its adoption new financial reporting standard IFRS 16 will have no real economic effect on the business, but it will increase reported operating profit while reducing pretax profit.Tesco added that the new reporting standard on accounting for leases will not affect sales or cash flow, nor how the business is run. At the other end of the large cap index, Standard Life Aberdeen was the worst performer, down 6.0% at 234.15p, after Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp sold its entire stake in the blue chip asset manager.Mitsubishi UFJ sold 148.6 million shares, or a 5.9% stake at around 234p each, worth GBP349.3 million in total.In the FTSE 250, Restaurant Group closed up 4.2% after Berenberg raised the restaurant chain owner to Buy from Hold following its acquisition of Asian restaurant Wagamama. "We believe that under the ownership of the Restaurant Group, Wagamama will continue to grow strongly and that considerable synergies can be achieved. As such, we expect the deal to ultimately create significant value," analysts at Berenberg said.At the other end of the FTSE 250, Plus500's dire week continued after the contract-for-difference provider said that it discovered a drafting error in its 2017 accounts, confirming earlier press reports which wrote on possible misleading of investors. On Tuesday, Plus500 warned its 2019 earnings would be lower than City forecasts because of tighter European regulations. The stock closed down 12% on Friday, ending the week 44% in the red. The pound was higher, quoted at USD1.2855 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.2777 at the close Thursday, following positive UK retail sales figures. UK retail sales rose in January and beat market expectations as shoppers took advantage of discounts following a disappointing Christmas.Retail sales increased by 1% last month following a 0.7% decline in December, according to the Office for National Statistics. This beat the consensus forecast of just 0.2% growth.On an annual basis, retail sales grew 4.2%, which was the highest rate since December 2016.Capital Economics said the rise in domestic retail sales shows consumers spending habits have not waned in the face of Brexit uncertainty. "Given that retail sales make up almost 10% of GDP, the rise in sales in January should add about 0.1 percentage points to monthly GDP growth. And with inflation continuing to fall back and pay growth on the up, there should be scope for consumer spending growth to gather some momentum further ahead if a Brexit deal is finalised," said analysts at Capital Economics. The euro was marginally lower, at USD1.1270 at the European equities close, against USD1.1275 late Thursday, after figures from the statistical office Eurostat showed the eurozone's trade surplus came in below economists' expectations for December.The seasonally adjusted trade surplus fell to EUR15.6 billion from EUR15.8 billion in November. Economists had expected a surplus of EUR16.3 billion.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close. The DJIA was up 1.3%, the S&P 500 index up 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.5%."US stocks have rallied for 6 of the last 7 weeks, partially on optimism for a trade resolution, so any developments from next week's meeting will be watched closely. We think a US-China trade deal is coming soon, especially considering economic data has deteriorated globally, putting more pressure on both sides," said analysts at LPL Financial Research. On the corporate front, PepsiCo reported fourth-quarter core earnings per share of USD1.49 compared to USD1.31, prior year. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange translation, core constant currency EPS increased 17% year-over-year.On average, 19 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of USD1.49 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. For the fourth-quarter, reported net revenue was even with the prior year at USD19.52 billion. Organic revenue grew 4.6%, for the quarter. Analysts expected revenue of USD19.53 billion for the quarter.However, the soft drinks maker forecast a profit drop for 2019 due to currency headwinds and a higher tax rate. On Thursday, Pepsi's rival Coca-Cola Co warned that sales growth was set to slow this year.Pepsi shares were up 3.1% in New York.In economic news, data from the Labor Department showed that US import and export prices both fell by much more than anticipated in the month of January.The report said import prices fell by 0.5% in January after tumbling by 1.0% in December, while economists had expected import prices to edge down by 0.1%. The export prices also slid by 0.6% for the second consecutive month in January. Economists had expected export prices to slip by 0.1%.Brent oil was quoted at USD65.98 a barrel at the London equities close from USD64.20 at the close Thursday. The North Sea benchmark hit its highest level so far in 2019 of USD66.10 in afternoon trade amid OPEC-led supply cuts. OPEC cut nearly 800,000 barrels of output per day in January, just short of its goal of cutting 812,000 bpd, in a bid to tighten the oil market.In addition, top exporter and de facto OPEC leader Saudi Arabia said earlier this week that it plans to produce around 9.8 million barrels per day of oil in March, over half a million barrels per day below its pledged production level.Oil prices also remained supported by the partial closure of Safaniya offshore oil fields in Saudi Arabia and optimism over US-China trade negotiations.Gold was higher, quoted at USD1,316.32 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,310.88 late Thursday.The economic events calendar on Monday has UK Rightmove house price index readings at 0001 GMT. Financial markets in the US are closed for the President's Day holiday on Monday.The UK corporate calendar on Monday has full year results from household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser and convenience store operator McColl's Retail Group.