BHP Billiton PLC Share News (BLT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened lower on Wednesday as investors look to some good news from August's UK services Purchasing Managers' Index, following disappointments in construction and manufacturing earlier in the week.BHP Billiton shares declined after it announced the acquisition of a stake in SolGold, the latter up 21% on the news, while William Hill rose after concluding a partnership to expand in the US sports betting market.The FTSE 100 was down 0.3%, or 23.51 points, at 7,434.35 early Wednesday. The FTSE 250 declined 0.2%, or 20.79 points, to 20,527.82 and the AIM All-Share fell 0.1% at 1,106.38.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.4% at 12,591.96, the Cboe UK 250 flat at 18,606.44 and Cboe UK Small Companies up 0.1% at 12,268.44.The CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.5% early Wednesday, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.6%.The UK services PMI, due at 0930 BST, is expected to improve to 53.9 from 53.5 in July. Lloyds Banking sees a sharper rise to 54.2 on the cards following July's "unexpectedly large decline".Lloyds did note though: "Risks, however, are probably skewed to the downside following negative surprises earlier this week in the manufacturing and construction surveys...On balance, evidence from a range of business surveys points to a risk of a slight moderation in Q3 GDP growth."Sterling was quoted at USD1.2830 early Wednesday ahead of the services data, firm compared to USD1.2823 at the London equities close on Tuesday.Also to come are services PMI readings from France, Germany and the eurozone at 0850 BST, 0855 BST and 0900 BST respectively.Already out, the latest survey from Caixin showed the services sector in China grew at a slower than expected rate in August. The country's PMI came in at 51.5, a 10 month low and missing expectations for 52.6, as well as being down from 52.8 in July. However, the score remained above the line of 50, which indicates expansion in the sector.The composite index fell to a five-month low of 52.0 in August from 52.3 in July.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 1.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 2.3% lower.Also in the economic calendar on Wednesday are eurozone retail sales at 1000 BST, while in the US MBA mortgage applications are due midday London time, followed by the US trade balance at 1330 BST and the Redbook index at 1355 BST. The Bank of Canada releases its latest interest rate decision at 1500 BST.In the UK, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab will be grilled by MPs over progress in exit talks later as the government's plans face mounting criticism.The minister will appear before the European Scrutiny committee after Brexit preparations were branded "incompetent" by former Bank of England governor Mervyn King, who warned the government had been left without a credible bargaining position.Raab told MPs on Tuesday that leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement would offer "opportunities" to the UK, but he insisted an agreement with Brussels was "within our grasp".However the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned he is "strongly opposed" to the UK proposals, which he claimed would undermine the European project and the single market.On the London Stock Exchange, BHP Billiton was down 1.8% after buying Guyana Goldfields's minority stake in London and Toronto-listed SolGold for GBP27.4 million. SolGold is the majority owner and operator of the Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador. SolGold was up 21% in early trade.BHP will buy all of the 103.1 million SolGold shares, a 6.1% stake, held by Guyana Goldfields at a price of 25.592 pence per share, a 20% premium to SolGold's closing price in London on Tuesday of 21.35p.BHP Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie said the deal would see the FTSE 100 miner gain "exposure to a high-quality copper exploration project in Ecuador, which is a highly prospective location for BHP."Berkeley Group was up 1.0% as the housebuilder, ahead of its annual general meeting, said market conditions in London and the south east of England have remained "consistent" in the first four months of its new financial year with that reported at its annual results in June.Pricing has remained robust with demand for "good quality, well located" homes. However, the company said that London continues to be "constrained" by high transaction costs and economic uncertainty, amplified by Brexit.The housebuilder nonetheless backed its long-term guidance, and said it is finding opportunities to invest and acquired five new sites in the four months to the end of August.

Peer Barratt Developments was up 0.5% after reporting annual pretax profit rose 9.2% to GBP835.5 million for the year ended June 30, as revenue grew 4.8% to GBP4.87 billion. As a result, the housebuilder lifted its dividend for the year by 5.0% to 43.8p.Vodafone gained 0.5% after Bernstein raised the telecommunications firm to Outperform form Market Perform.In the FTSE 250, William Hill was up 3.3%, the biggest riser in the mid-cap index, after confirming it has entered into a partnership with Nasdaq-listed Eldorado Resorts for digital and land-based sports betting and online gaming in the US.Eldorado is a "a major casino group", said William Hill, with 21 properties across 11 states and a customer base of 23 million people. Eldorado's pending acquisition of Tropicana Entertainment will further extend this.The partnership, first reported by Sky News on Tuesday, is for an initial 25 year term. Under the agreement, the William Hill will become Eldorado's exclusive partner to provider digital and land-based sports betting services as well as online gaming. Eldorado will receive USD50 million in William Hill shares, representing a 1.6% stake, a 20% stake in William Hill US and a share of profit "attributable to its licences". William Hill US will retain 80% of this combined business.The move from William Hill comes after a loosening of US sports betting regulation in May by the Supreme Court. London-listed peers such as GVC Holdings and Paddy Power Betfair have already moved to capitalise on the US market, with the former entering a joint venture with MGM Resorts International and the latter combining its Betfair US unit with US fantasy sports operator FanDuel.Alfa Financial Software was up 3.2%, rebounding from Tuesday's 6.6% fall after posting a fall in interim profit.Elsewhere on the Main Market, Sabre Insurance was down 4.0% at 263.00 pence after private equity funds advised by BC Partners and Angus Ball sold 44.8 million shares in the insurer, representing a 17.9% stake, at a price of 260p each via an accelerated bookbuild to raise gross proceeds of GBP116.4 million.The sale, first announced after the market close on Tuesday, sees BC Partners dispose of its entire holding in Sabre while Angus Ball continues to own a 1.8% stake in the company.Due later Wednesday, at 1500 BST, are August traffic statistics from British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines.After the market close the results of the latest quarterly index review are due, based on Tuesday's closing prices. For the first time since 2006, the composition of the FTSE 100 is seen unchanged in the upcoming index shuffle, though newly-listed companies such as Avast, Vivo Energy and Amigo Holdings are up for promotion to the FTSE 250.