LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in London opened higher Wednesday, adding to gains made on Monday and Tuesday, with Glencore leading the winners after the miner said it will refinance its USD8.45 billion revolving credit facility earlier than expected.
The FTSE 100 index was up 0.7% at 5,901.17 points, the FTSE 250 up 0.8% at 15,829.37 and the AIM All-Share up 0.2% at 673.06. In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.4% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.5%.
Glencore was up 4.3% in early trade after the miner said it has signed a new revolving credit facility to refinance and replace the existing facility. It said it is currently in the initial pre-syndication phase, and the company has received commitments from its senior banks for USD8.40 billion.
"In this initial pre-syndication phase, Glencore received commitments from its senior banks for USD8.40 billion, representing an increase from 37 banks of close to USD3.00 billion above existing commitment levels," the group said.
"Reflecting the high oversubscription level, Glencore has currently scaled back and signed in USD7.70 billion of such commitments and will now broaden the refinancing via launch of general syndication to some 30 additional banks in the second quarter of 2016," the miner added.
Glencore said the new facility remains unsecured and carries a 12-month extension option and a 12-month borrower's term-out option, extending the final maturity to May 2018.
Grocer J Sainbury was up 2.3%, benefiting from an upgrade to Outperform from Neutral by Exane BNP Paribas.
Engine maker Rolls Royce Holdings shares rose 1.5% following a report in the Financial Times that is preparing to grant activist investor ValueAct a seat on its board, giving the US-based hedge fund influence over the direction of the business as it seeks to recover from a string of profit warnings.
ValueAct is the largest shareholder in Rolls Royce with a 10% stake and has met with other leading investors in the group in recent weeks to assuage concerns about its intentions should it be given a seat on the board. Rolls-Royce told the FT no decision has yet been made on whether to support or reject ValueAct's request for a seat.
AstraZeneca was up 0.5% after the drugmaker said its drug durvalumab has been granted a breakthrough therapy designation by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of PD-L1 positive urothelial bladder cancer.
This designation is given to speed up the development of new drugs that are intended to treat a serious condition, demonstrate a substantial improvement over available therapies, or where there is significant unmet medical need.
Durvalumab was granted this designation based on early clinical data from a phase I trial in patients with advanced metastatic urothelial bladder cancer whose tumour has progressed during or after one standard platinum-based regimen. The compound is also being tested in first-line bladder cancer on its own, as well as in combination with tremelimumab.
At the other end of the blue-chip index, Old Mutual was the worst performer, down 0.7% after the Anglo-South African financial services group was downgraded to Neutral from Buy by Goldman Sachs.
In the FTSE 250, Auto Trader Group was up 5.2% after the automotive marketplace operator said it has traded well in the past four months and its underlying operating profit it set to come in slightly ahead of market expectations.
The group, which floated in London in March last year, said its average revenue per retailer forecourt has been stronger than anticipated in the four months since the end of the first half of its financial year to September 27. Consumer services revenue has also come in ahead, it said.
The number of retailer forecourts advertising on its service has been broadly flat, but costs have been well-managed, resulting in better margins, the company said.
Electrocomponents was up 5.6% after HSBC upgraded the electronic and maintenance products distributor to Buy from Hold, while National Express was up 4.0% after the transport operator was upgraded to Neutral from Reduce by Nomura.
Spectris was rising 2.5%, adding to the gains made on Tuesday following its annual results, after JPMorgan upgraded the precision instrumentation and controls supplier to Overweight from Neutral.
Meanwhile, Booker Group was down 1.7% at the bottom of the mid-cap index, after Exane BNP cut the food wholesaler and convenience store operator to Neutral from Outperform.
In the economic calendar Wednesday, the UK ILO unemployment rate is due at 0930 GMT. The unemployment rate is expected to slide to 5.0% from the 5.1% reported in the three months to November, which was the lower reading since October 2005. However, wages including bonus are expected to fall to 1.9%, below the previous 2.0% in November, while wages excluding bonus expectations are for a decline to 1.8% from 1.9%.
Elsewhere, eurozone trade balance data are due at 1000 GMT, alongside eurozone construction output. In the US, the producer price index is expected at 1330 GMT and the Redbook index is due at 1355 GMT. US Industrial production is due at 1415 GMT.
The Federal Reserve releases the minutes of its January 26-27 meeting at 1900 GMT.
"Since that Fed meeting markets have been on a roller-coaster ride, having had to cope with a Bank of Japan rate cut into negative territory and we've also heard from senior Fed officials William Dudley, Stanley Fischer as well as [Chair] Janet Yellen herself," said CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson.
"All three of them in their own way have indicated that 'financial conditions have become less supportive of growth', and whatever comes out of this evening's Fed minutes markets should be mindful of that," Hewson added.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.4% Wednesday, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong finished down 1.0%. The Shanghai Composite avoided losses, ending up 1.1%.
Wall Street closed higher Tuesday, with the Dow Industrials up 1.4%, the S&P 500 up 1.7% and the Nasdaq Composite up 2.3%.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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