BT Share News (BT.A)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have opened slightly higher in London Friday, as concerns about Chinese currency devaluation simmer down while the debate over Greece heats up.

The Chinese central bank ended its string of three devaluations of the yuan on Friday, while the Greek Parliament voted to approve the country's debt bailout plan, which more international institutions are starting to think it can't afford.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,571.49
FTSE 250: up 0.2% at 17,638.31
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 751.34
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Hang Seng: down 0.2% at 23,967.82
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.4% at 20,519.45
DJIA: closed flat at 17,408.25
S&P 500: closed down 0.1% at 2,083.39
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GBP: flat at USD1.5617
EUR: flat at USD1.1149

GOLD: up at USD1,116.90 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD49.76 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

EU Eurogroup meeting

09:00 Italy Gross Domestic Product
10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
10:00 EU Gross Domestic Product
13:30 US Producer Price Index
13:30 Canada Manufacturing Shipments
14:15 US Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
15:00 US Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index preliminary
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After a three-day slide that sent shockwaves through global markets, China's yuan rose slightly against the US dollar Friday. China's central bank set its daily reference rate at 6.3975 to the dollar, compared to 6.4010 on Thursday. During each trading day, the value of the yuan is allowed to move by a maximum of 2% above or below the reference rate, known as the central parity rate. On Tuesday the People's Bank of China cut the rate by 1.9%, followed by a 1.6% drop on Wednesday and a further 1.1% drop on Thursday, prompting share price falls across the globe.
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The Greek Parliament approved the conditions of a third bailout after an all-night debate. The Greek parliamentary vote came ahead of a meeting later Friday in Brussels of eurozone finance ministers to consider the rescue plan for Athens. Parliaments in other eurozone countries have to make their own votes for the aid programme, which Greece urgently needs to meet an August 20 deadline for a EUR3.2 billion debt repayment to the European Central Bank.
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The European institutions overseeing Greece's bailout have expressed "serious concerns" over the sustainability of the country's debt, bringing them in-line with the assessment by the International Monetary Fund, the Financial Times reported. Both the European Commission and the European Central Bank argue in a new analysis that debt relief measures, including extending repayment periods, would allow Athens to achieve debt sustainability, a solution advocated by the International Monetary Fund. They say such moves would avoid the need for a full-scale debt haircut. The call to back debt relief puts pressure on Berlin which has been opposed to debt relief, saying that any nominal haircut would be illegal under EU treaties.
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A rise in exports caused by a lower euro helped the biggest economies in the eurozone, but German economic growth was lower-than-expected in the second quarter and France's growth ground to a halt, according to statistics released. Germany's gross domestic product grew 0.4% quarter-on-quarter, its statistics office, Destatis, said. The figure for the eurozone's largest economy was higher than the 0.3% pace set in the first quarter but lower than the 0.5% analysts had predicted. The French economy, the eurozone's second-largest, posted zero growth quarter-on-quarter after both lower consumer spending and investment offset a rise in exports, the statistics office Insee said. The stagnation followed 0.7% growth in the first quarter, France's fastest pace in nearly two years, Insee said. Analysts surveyed by dpa-AFX had expected its gross domestic product to expand 0.2% in the second quarter.
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A leading economic index for Japan bounced higher again in June, the Conference Board said on Friday, climbing 0.4%. That follows the downwardly revised 0.2% decline in May (originally -0.1%).
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The details of a massive explosion at a chemical warehouse in north-eastern China were still unclear, an official said, as investigations were ongoing. "We are not sure what chemicals they were," said Gao Huaiyou, deputy director of work safety for the port city of Tianjin. "We also don't know what quantities they were," he told reporters. At least 50 people were killed and 700 injured when explosions and a fireball hit a chemical warehouse late Wednesday. At least 17 of the fatalities were fire crew tackling the fire that sparked the explosions, with 21 rescue personnel still missing. More than 70 of the injured were in serious condition. Around 3,500 people were made homeless and moved to centres set up in 10 schools.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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UBS CUTS ARM PRICE TARGET TO 1160 (1250) PENCE - 'BUY'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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BP faces the prospect of fresh regulatory fines after a US judge ruled that its energy traders rigged the natural gas market in Texas in the aftermath of a 2008 hurricane, the Financial Times reported. Citing the judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the US, the FT said the oil and gas giant's traders based at the company's Southeast Gulf Texas office plotted to lose some money on physical gas positions in order to boost the value of holdings of financial derivatives tracking gas. The FT said the fine could run into the "tens of millions of dollars" and comes after the company recently concluded a USD18.70 billion settlement with the US government over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has advised competition watchdogs that most of the concerns raised by BT Group's rivals over its takeover of EE do not merit intervention to curb the combined companies' power, the Telegraph reported. Ofcom does not have the authority to approve the merger, but its advice to the UK Competition and Markets Authority is a boost to BT.
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Glencore said it has completed the sale of the Tampakan copper project and of its stake in the Falcondo nickel operation and Sipilou nickel project. The assets were inherited when the multi-commodity miner acquired Xstrata in May 2013, and Glencore generated a total of USD290 million in proceeds from the sales.
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BHP Billiton said it has appointed Anita Frew, currently chairman designate of Croda International and deputy chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, to its board as a non-executive director.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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IP Group said its portfolio company First Light Fusion Ltd has completed a GBP22.7 million fund-raising. First Light Fusion was spun-out of the University of Oxford, and is focused on new implosion processes which have the potential to "dramatically shorten the timescale and cost of achieving practical and affordable fusion energy", IP Group said. The fund-raising will be completed in two tranches, and IP Group has committed GBP5.8 million to the first tranche. Following the first tranche it has a 34.9% interest in First Light.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Lamprell announced a board reshuffle after its Chief Executive James Moffat said he will retire in 2016. The fabrication, engineering and contracting service company to the offshore and onshore oil and gas industry said Moffat will retire on June 30, 2016. The search to find his successor is under way and an announcement in this regard will be made in due course, Lamprell said in a statement.
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AGA Rangemaster Group reported a wider pretax loss in the first half of 2015, despite a rise in revenue, as it booked costs associated with its takeover offer by US kitchen products company Middleby. AGA Rangemaster, which makes brands including AGA and Rayburn range cookers and Fired Earth kitchen and bathroom products, said it made a pretax loss in the half year ended June 30 of GBP4.0 million, wider than the GBP0.3 million loss it made in the first half of 2014, even though revenue grew to GBP125.4 million from GBP123.4 million.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Samsung Electronics unveiled two new large-screen devices in the US, in a bid to make up for falling revenues from its handset division. The Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+ each have a 5.7-inch display, putting them in the category known as phablets, intended to combine features of both phones and tablet computers. Both phones support Samsung's mobile payment service, following the introduction of the rival Apple Pay system integrated into the latest generations of iPhones.
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Conglomerate General Electric said it has agreed to sell GE Capital Bank's US online deposit platform to Goldman Sachs Bank USA. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. GE said the sale relates only to the deposit platform and deposits of GE Capital Bank, including online savings accounts, online CDs and brokered CDs. As part of the deal, about USD16 billion of deposits will be transferred to Goldman Sachs Bank USA. "As we work to reduce the size and complexity of GE Capital, this transaction is another key step," said GE Chief Executive Keith Sherin.
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Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials reported higher third-quarter profit, driven by a 10% increase in sales, partly offset by lower margins. However, quarterly earnings came in line with Wall Street estimates, while sales missed expectations. Applied Materials, which provides semiconductor fabrication tools to chip makers, reported third-quarter net income of USD329 million, compared with USD301 million last year.
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Apple will delay its live television service which is delivered over the Internet to at least 2016, as talks to license programming from television networks owned by broadcasters such as CBS Corp and Twenty-First Century Fox are progressing slowly, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with Apple's plans. According to the Bloomberg report, the main stumbling block is the price of content. Apple was aiming to introduce the live television service this year and price the service at USD40 a month. Further, Bloomberg reported that Apple lacks the computer network capacity required to ensure a good viewing experience.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Daily Internet
iEnergizer
Source Bioscience
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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