Blackrock Lat A Share News (BRLA)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have opened flat to higher Wednesday ahead of big day of economic data in Europe and the US, as well as the results of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Clothing and homeware retailer Next PLC raised its profit and sales guidance forecasts for the year ahead, after reporting strong sales growth in the first quarter of the year from both its retail stores and online business. Shares are up 1.7% in early trade.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: marginally up at 6,772.43
FTSE 250: up 0.1% at 15,912.76
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.4% at 818.76
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Hang Seng: down 1.5% at 22,108.49
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.1% at 14,304.11
DJIA: closed up 0.5% at 16,535.37
S&P 500: closed up 0.5% at 1,878.33
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6811
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3804

GOLD: down at USD1,290.91 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD108.35 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)

08:55 Germany Unemployment Rate
09:00 Italy Unemployment
10:00 Italy Consumer Price Index
10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
11:00 Italy Producer Price Index
12:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
13:15 US ADP Employment Change
13:30 US Gross Domestic Product
14:45 US Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks change
16:30 UK MPC Member Dale Speech
19:00 US Fed Interest Rate Decision and Monetary Policy Statement
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UK GFK APRIL CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INDEX -3 VS -5 MARCH
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German retail sales declined unexpectedly in March driven by a notable decrease in food product turnover. Retail sales fell 1.9% from last year, offsetting February's 1.9% increase, Destatis reported Wednesday. This was the first decline since December. Economists were expecting a 1.7% rise.
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FRANCE MARCH PRODUCER PRICES DROP 0.4% ON MONTH, CONSENSUS -0.1%; MARCH PRODUCER PRICES DOWN 2% ANNUALLY, CONSENSUS -1.7%; MAR CONSUMER GOODS SPENDING +0.4% M/M, -1.2% Y/Y
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The Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged as widely expected by economists. At the Policy Board meeting, members voted unanimously to continue to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY60 trillion to JPY70 trillion.
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Japan's central bank also downgraded the nation's economic growth forecast for the current financial year. The central bank expects the world's third-largest economy to expand 1.1% for the year through March 2015, revised down from a 1.4% growth it estimated in January. The bank also predicts the country's consumer prices will climb 1.3% in the current financial year, unchanged from the previous prediction.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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CS RAISES ASTRAZENECA TO 'NEUTRAL' ('UNDERPERFORM') - PRICE TARGET 4800 (4000) PENCE
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CITIGROUP CUTS ARM TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 950 (1020) PENCE
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GOLDMAN CUTS SERCO TO 'SELL' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 255 (398) PENCE
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UBS RAISES PREMIER FOODS TO 'NEUTRAL' ('SELL') - TARGET 55 (75) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Barclays PLC is to create a "bad bank" to transform its investment banking operations, according to the Financial Times Tuesday. British bank Barclays is expects to announce the creation of an internal bad bank next week, into which it will put all its bad assets. Barclays is using the bad bank to help transform is ailing investment banking operations, the FT said, which have been hit by the departure of Skip McGee, head of Barclays Americas. McGee's role is being replaced by Joe Gold, currently global head of client capital management. The internal bad bank will be run by the co-head of its investment bank Eric Bommensath, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the situation.
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Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC said late Tuesday that it is in talks with Germany's Siemens AG about a possible sale of its energy gas turbine and compressor business. In a statement, the British company said the talks are ongoing and it will make a further announcement in due course. The unit being discussed supplies aero-derivative gas turbines, compressor systems and related services to customers in the oil and gas and power generation sectors.
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ROYAL DUTCH SHELL Q1 INCOME BEFORE TAXATION USD8.54 BLN VS. USD13.30 BLN LAST YEAR; DECLARES QUARTERLY DIVIDEND OF USD0.47
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Standard Life Q1 Assets Under Administration GBP247.8B Vs GBP233.1B; Q1 Net Inflows GBP2.4B; Q1 Fee Revenue Up 12% To GBP374M
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Antofagasta: Gold Production In Q1 Down 10.3% Due To Lower Production At Esperanza; Group Copper Production In Q1 Down 7.4% Due To Lower Plant Throughput
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Next Q1 Next Directory Up 14%; Q1 Retail Sales Up 8.8%; Increases Pretax Profit Guidance Growth For Full Year To Between 8% And 14%; Increases FY Pretax Profit Guidance To Between GBP750M And GBP790M;Says Sales Currently Ahead Of 4% To 8% Full Year Guidance From March
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British American Tobacco Q1 Revenue down 12% At Current Exchange Rates; Q1 Revenue Up 2% At Constant Exchange Rates
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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DS Smith Says FY Performance Was In Line With Its Expectations; Says Outlook Remains Positive
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Dechra Pharmaceuticals Says Q3 Revenue 4.7% Ahead Of Previous Year
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Kazakhmys Q1 Copper Cathode Equivalent Sales In Line With Output At 69.6 Kilotonne; Says Its Making Good Progress With Restructuring Review; Says Acquisition Agreed Of Third Major Growth Project Koksay
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HellermannTyton Q1 Revenue EUR144.8M, Up 11% On Year, Up 17% At Constant Currencies; Says Every Geographic Segment Showed Double-Digit Revenue Growth At Constant Currencies; Remains Confident In Prospects For Growth In 2014 And Beyond
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International Personal Finance Q1 Pretax Profit Up GBP3.6M To GBP12.7M; Revenue Up 17% To GBP194.9M From GBP177.6M; Q1 Customer Numbers Up 6.6% To 2.6M From 2.4M
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Greene King Says It Expects To Meet FY Market Expectations; Food Like-For-Like Sales Up 5%, Room LFL Sales Up 6.8% In 52 Week Period; Retail Like-For-Like Sales Up 4.1% In 52 Weeks To April 27; Core Brand Own-Brewed Volumes Up 4.6% In 52 Week Period; Expects UK Economic Outlook To Improve; Remain Cautiously Optimistic For Coming Year
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Ultra Electronics Maintains Full Year Expectations
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Playtech Says It Has Made Strong Start To 2014; Remains Confident Regarding Its Continuing Growth Prospects
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Ladbrokes Q1 Group Net Revenue Down 2.3% Or GBP6.5M As Results Went Against It; Confirms 2014 Dividend Commitment Of At Least 8.9P Per Share
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Heritage Oil Has Recommended GBP924M Takeover Offer From Al Mirqab Capital At 320p Per Share; Says Its Independent Directors Support Takeover Offer
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CSR Q1 Pretax Loss USD3.6M Vs Pretax Profit USD5.9M; Revenue USD180.8M Vs USD237.9M; Expects Q2 Revenue Between USD190M To USD210M
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Home Retail FY Pretax Profit GBP71.2M Vs GBP120.9M; FY Benchmark Pretax Profit GBP115.4M; FY Revenue Up 3% To GBP5.66Bn Vs GBP5.48Bn; Good Performances From Argos, Homebase; Positive Like-For-Like Sales Growth
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Domino's Pizza Names David Wild As CEO; Has Been Interim Since January
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Regus Says Q1 In Line With Management Expectations; Q1 Revenue GBP393.2M Vs GBP357.0M
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COMPANIES - ALL-SHARE AND AIM
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Bullabulling Directors Recommend Shareholders Reject Norton Offer; Says Offer Is Inadequate, Opportunistic, Recommends Shareholders Take No Action
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Styles & Wood Proposes Capital Reorganisation, Move To AIM
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Thorntons Q3 Sales Down 7.6%; UK Commercial Sales Up 8.6% In Year To Date, Retail Division Like-For-Like Growth of 1.8%; CEO: Confident In Performing In Line With Market Expectations For Full Year
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Probability Requests AIM Trading Suspension Ahead Of Announcement
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Faroe Petroleum Acquires 70% Operated Interest In Ketch Field And 53.1% Operated In Schooner Field; To Pay Tullow Oil Initial GBP35M In Cash For Interests; May Pay Tullow Oil Additional GBP10M Depending On Production; Says Expansion Of Fields May Result In Royalty Payments To Tullow Oil Of Up To GBP92M
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Greggs Total Sales Up 4% In 17 Weeks To April 26; Own Shop Like-For-Like Sales In 17 Weeks Period Up 3.7%; Market Conditions Remain Highly Competitive, But Expect To Deliver Good H1 Outcome
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Wednesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

HellermannTyton
AZ Electronic Materials Group
Tullow Oil
Countrywide
Devro
Fidessa Group
Aviva
Segro
British American Tobacco
International Personal Finance
Ultra Electronics Holdings
EMIS Group
Witan Investment Trust
Lancashire Holdings
Nichols
BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust
Pendragon
RIT Capital Partners
Asian Total Return Investment Company
Aberdeen UK Tracker Trust
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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