BP Share News (BP.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stock prices have opened mostly higher Wednesday, following stimulus measures undertaken by the central bank of China overnight and ahead of the publication of the Bank of England's latest meeting minutes later in the morning session.

The market continues to keep a wary eye on developments in Scotland, where latest polls show the vote against independence with a narrow lead.

Smiths Group leads blue-chip fallers, down 5.3%, after the technology company raised its dividend for the full year to end-July but said its results were hurt by the strength of sterling.

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 6,806.32
FTSE 250: up 0.3% at 15,639.33
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 764.60
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Hang Seng: up 1.0% at 24,381.14
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.1% at 15,888.67
DJIA: closed up 0.6% at 17,131.97
S&P 500: closed up 0.8% at 1,998.98
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6293
EUR-USD: up at USD1.2576

GOLD: up at USD1,236.87 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD98.80 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)

09:30 UK Bank of England Minutes and MPC Vote
09:30 UK ILO Unemployment Rate, Claimant Count and Average Earnings
10:00 EU Construction Output
10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
12:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
13:30 US Consumer Price Index
13:30 US Current Account
15:00 US NAHB Housing Market Index
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks
19:00 US Fed Interest Rate Decision and Monetary Policy Statement
19:00 US FOMC Economic Projections
19:30 US Fed press conference
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The leaders of Britain's three main political parties have pledged to hand over more powers to Scotland if voters reject independence in Thursday's referendum, in what was widely interpreted as a last-minute panic move. The attempt to persuade Scots to remain in the 300-year-old union with the rest of the UK came as opinion polls showed the vote too close to call. Around 52% of Scots were planning to vote against independence while 48% were in favour, according to surveys by Opinium for The Daily Telegraph and ICM for The Scotsman, published late Tuesday.
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China's central bank is injecting CNY500 billion (about USD81 billion) into the nation's five major state-run commercial banks to bolster flagging economic growth, reports said. The People's Bank of China will release CNY100 billion to each bank to boost liquidity, the sina.com website quoted banking analyst Qiu Guanhua of Guotai Junan Securities as saying. The central bank began releasing the funds on Tuesday under its standing lending facility, a liquidity support tool, for a three-month period, it said. The central bank has not confirmed the reports.
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The parliaments of Ukraine and the EU ratified a landmark political and free trade deal Tuesday. The deal paves the way for deeper political relations between the EU and Ukraine and grants the country tariff-free access to the bloc's giant market. Moscow has long been critical of the agreement, amid concerns that the trade pact could hurt the Russian economy. In a bid to further peace in the region, the Ukrainian Parliament approved legislation granting greater autonomy to the separatist-held eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which is a key part of the Kiev government's ceasefire deal with rebels.
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The United Nations and the US issued dire warnings about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, as the US announced a major increase Tuesday in its response to the epidemic. West African countries at the centre of the epidemic could become collapsed states, the UN warned, as US President Barack Obama said the epidemic was spiralling out of control and would get worse before it gets better.
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The United Nations has brokered a deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that would allow the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip with UN monitors overseeing the process, a senior UN official said Tuesday. The deal will "enable work at the scale required in the strip, involving the private sector in Gaza and giving a lead role to the Palestinian Authority in the reconstruction effort," Robert Serry, the UN's Middle East envoy, told a Security Council meeting. Israel only allows imports of most consumer goods to Gaza but strictly controls the inflow of construction materials to Gaza due to concerns that such materials could be diverted by Hamas militants for building military installations such as attack tunnels.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: EXANE BNP CUTS BHP BILLITON TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('NEUTRAL')
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UBS RAISES HSBC TO 'EUROPEAN MOST PREFERRED LIST'
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SHORE CAPITAL RAISES DAIRY CREST GROUP TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 403 PENCE
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PANMURE INITIATES FENNER WITH 'SELL' - TARGET 300 PENCE
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TRADERS: HSBC RAISES ASHMORE GROUP TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL')
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TRADERS: BARCLAYS RESUMES MAN GROUP WITH 'EQUAL WEIGHT' - TARGET 120 PENCE
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UBS RAISES VESUVIUS TO 'BUY' ('SELL') - TARGET 560 (420) PENCE
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UBS RAISES ICAP TO 'NEUTRAL' ('SELL') - TARGET 340 (320) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Sky Deutschland Board Will Not Recommend BSkyB Bid; Says Bid Does Not Reflect "Full Potential", "Intrinsic Value"
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Smiths Group raised its dividend for the full year to end-July, although it saw results hit by the strength of sterling as growth in its John Crane, Smiths Interconnect and Flex-Tek businesses were offset by declines in Smiths Medical and Smiths Detection. The technology group proposed a total dividend of 40.25 pence, up from 39.5 pence in the previous year. Smiths posted a pretax profit of GBP302.0 million in the recent financial year, up from GBP395.7 million the year before, as revenue fell to GBP2.95 billion from GBP3.11 billion and as it posted higher exceptional and amortisation charges of GBP126.8 million, compared to GBP73.2 million a year before.
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US oil group ConocoPhillips Co has put its stake in the Clair oilfield up for sale, sparking a race to buy a part of one of Scotland's most valuable oilfields, The Times reported. Conoco has hired banks to sell the 24% stake in the field, west of Shetland, which could fetch between GBP1.2 billion and GBP1.8 billion, the paper said. The field is operated by BP, which owns a 28.6% stake, and holds an estimated eight million barrels of oil, making it one of the largest fields in Europe. Royal Dutch Shell, which already owns 28% of the field, is reportedly likely to be interested in upping its stake in the field.
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Barclays, HSBC Holdings and Royal Bank of Scotland Group have been named among thirteen banks facing allegations of fraud and a claim for USD1.15 billion in damages in the US over the sale of mortgage bonds during the financial crisis, The Guardian reported on Tuesday. The accusations have been made in the state of Virginia, with attorney general Mark Herring alleging the banks named in the suit packaged up risky home loans into the bonds before selling them to the Virginia Retirement System as, primarily, top-quality AAA-rated bonds, the paper said.
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The New York attorney general Tuesday called for the rejection of a move by Barclays for the dismissal of the state's lawsuit alleging fraud in connection with how the bank operated its dark pool trading platform, Reuters has reported. According to the report, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman targeted Barclays' argument that the lawsuit falls outside the Martin Act.
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Two mobile operators who contributed to the fall of Phones 4U into administration by withdrawing their business from the retailer in recent weeks are understood to be in talks with administrators to buy portions of the company, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Vodafone Group and EE have each held talks with the administrator about buying parts of the Phones 4U business, including some stores, staff and stock in the UK, the FT said. The moves may provide an escape route for thousands of staff who are set to lose their jobs. It also comes on the back of talks being held by Dixons Carphone to offer jobs to 800 Phones 4U staff working in concessions in its own stores. Dixons Carphone may also reportedly be interested in buying some of the stores and acquiring some of Phones 4U's brands, the FT said.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Sports and fashion chain JD Sports Fashion sported an impressive increase in its pretax profit for the first half of its financial year, as strong revenue growth was driven by another strong sales performance from its core UK sportswear business. The sportswear, outdoor clothing and fashion retailer reported a pretax profit of GBP16.5 million for the six months to August 3, up from only GBP6.1 million a year earlier. Its profit was driven by a 27% increase in revenue to GBP721.5 million, up from GBP567.4 million last year, after strong sportswear sales continued, and it was given a much-welcome boost by the build up to the football World Cup.
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DS Smith said trading since the start of its financial year has been in line with expectations and said growth is slightly outpacing its medium-term outlook. The company, a supplier of recycled packaging for consumer goods, said it has made good progress since the start of its financial year on May 1, with like-for-like corrugated box volumes improving in all operating regions and growth ahead year-on-year and also ahead of its medium-term targets.
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IG Group Holdings reported a fall in first-quarter net trading revenue, with declines across all of its geographic regions, amid quiet financial markets and continued weakness in foreign exchange activity. In a statement, the FTSE 250 online derivatives trading company said net trading revenue - trading revenue excluding interest on segregated client funds and net of introducing broker commissions - fell to GBP85.6 million in the three months ended August 31 from GBP93.6 million in the corresponding period last year.
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Dignity announced a proposal to return GBP54 million to shareholders as it restructures its debt obligations in order to cut its annual debt servicing costs. The FTSE 250-listed funeral services provider said its overall balance sheet liability would increase to GBP580 million under the deal, but said its debt service costs would fall by GBP6 million to GBP34 million from GBP40 million at present.
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Dairy Crest Group said it has appointed Stephen Alexander as its new chairman with immediate effect. Alexander replaces Anthony Fry in the position. Fry was taken ill earlier this year; he will leave the board with immediate effect, said Dairy Crest.
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Intermediate Capital Group said it has exercised its option to acquire the 49.255% of Longbow Real Estate Capital LLP it doesn't already own from the LLP's eight individual partners. In a statement, the specialist asset manager said it will pay GBP13.0 million on completion of the acquisition, which is expected in October. A further deferred payment of an estimated GBP24.0 million will be payable to the partners in 2016.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Immedia Group said its outlook for 2014/2015 is positive and recorded higher pretax profit in the first half as the company benefited from significant gains on its investment in Audioboom Group.
In its interim results for the half year to June 30, the bespoke digital music and entertainment channels provider said pretax profit rose to GBP259,000 in the period, up from GBP181,000 the previous year. Revenue for the half-year was in line with last year at GBP1.3 million.
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Minerals producer Sierra Rutile said it swung to a loss in the first half of 2014, on the back of higher finance costs and a fall in revenue. The company said lower revenue and higher cost of sales decreased its gross profit in the six months to June 30, while a significant increase in finance costs left the company with a first-half pretax loss of USD3.8 million, compared with a pretax profit of USD3.8 million in the first half of 2013. Cost of sales rose due to higher production and shipping costs.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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NASA said Tuesday it has selected Boeing Co and billionaire Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp, or Space X, to transport US astronauts to and from the International Space Station from US soil using their CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively, with a goal of ending the nation's sole reliance on Russia in 2017. The maximum potential value of the FAR-based firm fixed-price contracts is USD6.8 billion - USD4.2 billion for Boeing and USD2.6 billion for SpaceX, the US space agency said.
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Software giant Microsoft Corp announced late Tuesday an 11% increase in quarterly dividend and added two new directors to the board. However, the dividend increase is the smallest since 2009, and half of last year's hike. "As we continue to focus on the company's transformation and the board continues to evaluate capital strategy options, this dividend increase is another step in our ongoing commitment to increase capital returns to shareholders," CFO Amy Hood said in a statement.
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Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corp said it now expects a wider-than-expected loss for the financial year ending March 31, 2015, due to an impairment of goodwill in its mobile communications segment. The company now expects annual net loss attributable to stockholders of JPY230 billion, compared to a prior estimate of a loss of JPY50 billion.
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Wednesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

DS Smith
Sefton Resources
Small Companies Dividend Trust
Eco Animal Health Group
Private Equity Investor
Games Workshop Group
Marwyn Value Investors
Datatec
Colefax Group
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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