BT Share News (BT.A)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened lower Tuesday on a weak lead from the US and renewed concerns about Ukraine.

Barclays PLC has reached a settlement with Guardian Care Homes ahead of a court case that was being seen as the measure of whether customers will take the legal route against banks over the manipulation of the Libor benchmark interest rate.

Meanwhile, former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond's Atlas Mara has recruited its CEO from Barclays. John Vitalo was CEO for Barclays in the Middle East and North Africa. Atlas Mara is a London-listed investment firm acquiring banks across Africa.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 6,610.56
FTSE 250: down 0.2% at 16,238.64
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.2% at 848.04
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Hang Seng: up 1.0% at 22,591.64
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.4% at 14,606.88
DJIA: closed down 1.0% at 16,245.87
S&P 500: closed down 1.1% at 1,845.04
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6637
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3758

GOLD: up at USD1,308.04 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD106.35 a barrel

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

09:30 UK Industrial Production
12:30 US NFIB Business Optimism Index
13:15 Canada Housing Starts
13:30 Canada Building Permits
13:55 US Redbook index
15:00 UK NIESR GDP Estimate
16:30 US 4-Week Bill Auction
18:00 US 3-Year Note Auction
18:30 US Fed Minneapolis's Narayana Kocherlakota speech
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New accounting standards being adopted by the UK Office of National Statistics will count future pension rights as if they were present income, a move expected to instantly turn the UK into a nation of savers, according to the Telegraph and other UK press. The new standards, which are the first such reforms for 15 years and will take effect from September, are expected to boost the size of the British economy, increase the amount of public debt and raise the savings ratio in the country. As a result of the changes, the ONS could revise up growth in 2012 and 2013.
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The UK service sector exports rose to an all-time high in the first quarter, latest Quarterly Economic Survey from the British Chambers of Commerce showed. The survey provided further evidence that the economy is continuing to grow, with results showing many key manufacturing balances at record levels and exports orders and sales in services at new highs.
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Permanent salaries in the UK rose at the fastest pace in nearly six years during March, while temporary pay growth eased, Markit Economics said, citing the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG Report on Jobs. Starting salaries for those in permanent jobs grew at the fastest pace since July 2007, the survey said. However, the pay of temporary/contract staff rose at the slowest rate in five months.
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The Ukrainian government Monday accused Russia of fomenting unrest over the weekend in eastern Ukraine as a preamble for another military incursion, after hundreds of activists occupied the Donetsk local administration building and declared the region a sovereign republic. The US government backed up Kiev's charges, saying there was "strong evidence" that some of the pro-Russian demonstrators who have occupied government buildings in Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk were "paid and were not local residents."
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The Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged and maintained its upbeat economic outlook even after the government raised the sales tax this month for the first time since 1997. The Policy Board on Tuesday decided to continue to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY60-JPY70 trillion. Japan's economy has continued to recover moderately as a trend, albeit with some fluctuations due to the consumption tax hike, the bank said in a statement.
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BOF: FRANCE MAR BUSINESS SENTIMENT 99 VS. 98 IN FEBRUARY; RETAINS Q1 GDP GROWTH FORECAST AT 0.2%
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The French trade deficit narrowed more than expected in February due to a fall in imports, official data revealed. The trade deficit fell to EUR3.36 billion from EUR5.61 billion in January. The shortfall was expected to narrow marginally to EUR5 billion. Exports decreased to EUR36.24 billion in February from EUR36.31 billion in the prior month. Imports decline markedly to EUR39.61 billion from EUR41.92 billion in February.
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An Australian ship was trawling a small patch of the Indian Ocean trying to resume contact with electronic pulses detected earlier that may come from the flight recorders of a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger plane. If contact is resumed, a Bluefin-21 unmanned mini-submarine would be lowered from the vessel Ocean Shield to scan for wreckage, first with side sonar and then with a camera.
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The death toll from the mudslide in the US state of Washington rose to 33 Monday, as hundreds of rescue personnel took advantage of drier weather to dig deeper into the layers of mud and debris that obliterated the town of Oso more than two weeks ago. All but three of the dead have now been identified, while the number of people on the missing list has dwindled to 12, Snohomish County officials said a press release.
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An Egyptian court on Monday rejected an appeal by a key leader of the 2011 revolution against Hosny Mubarak, jailed for three years in December under a new law restricting protests. Ahmed Maher, founder of the April 6 Youth Movement, had been convicted along with two others of organizing an unauthorized protest and attacking police.
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YouTube appealed Monday to Turkey's Constitutional Court to unblock access to the video-sharing platform, after the same court last week ordered a ban on Twitter be lifted.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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JPMORGAN CUTS SYNTHOMER TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 230 (260) PENCE
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UBS CUTS HIKMA PHARMACEUTICALS TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 1,700 PENCE
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BERENBERG INITIATES OXFORD INSTRUMENTS WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 1,720 PENCE
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BERENBERG INITIATES NORTHGATE WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 650 PENCE
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TRADERS: BERNSTEIN RAISES ARM TO 'MARKET-PERFORM' ('UNDERPERFORM')
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MORGAN STANLEY RAISES TUI TRAVEL PRICE TARGET TO 470 (380) PENCE - 'EQUAL-WEIGHT'
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MORGAN STANLEY RAISES THOMAS COOK PRICE TARGET TO 235 (200) PENCE - 'OVERWEIGHT'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Sports Direct International PLC's founder and deputy chairman, Mike Ashley, has engaged Goldman Sachs to sell 24 million of his shares, reducing his holding in the UK sports clothing retailer to 58% from 62%, the Financial Times reported late Monday. The investment bank will place the shares acquired from MASH Holdings, Ashley's investment vehicle, with institutional investors at a price of between 850 pence and 870p per share, the newspaper said. Sports Direct shares closed Monday at 893.50p. At the lower placing price, the transaction would be worth at least GBP204 million.
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BT PLC has poached British Sky Broadcasting PLC executive Delia Bushell to head up its television division, The Guardian reported late Monday. Bushell has worked at BSkyB and Sky Italia for 14 years, and was most recently chief commercial officer at Sky Italia. Bushell will take on the new role at BT in July, the newspaper said.
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Barclays PLC has reached a settlement with Guardian Care Homes ahead of a court case that was being seen as the measure of whether customers might take the legal route against banks over the manipulation of the Libor benchmark rate. The accusation had been that Barclays mis-sold products linked to Libor to the care home operator.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Ferrexpo PLC said it increased its proportion of higher grades and pellet production from both its own ore and from third party materials in the first quarter of 2014. The iron ore producer, which operates solely in Ukraine, said its total production increased 10% to 2.8 million tonnes in the three months ended March 31 from 2.6 million tonnes in the same period the previous year.
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Unite Group Q1 NAV Of Student Accomocation Fund Up 2.8%
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Victrex Says Trading In First Half Continues With Growth Momentum, Strong Sales Volumes; H1 Sales Volumes Up 14%, 1,584t Vs 1,392t
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COMPANIES - ALL-SHARE AND AIM
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Impax Asset Management Group PLC reported GBP105.0 million in net inflows in the quarter to the end of March, driven by flows into its third party listed equity funds. In a statement, the investment manager said its assets under management increased to GBP2.55 billion, from GBP2.40 billion in the quarter ended March 31.
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Porvair PLC is Tuesday set to say that it has made "a good start" to the new financial year, with revenues for the four months to the end of March around 23% ahead of the same period a year earlier. "The outlook for the coming months is encouraging. Order books are healthy and the large engineering projects...are progressing according to plan," Porvair will tell shareholders at its annual general meeting.
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Daisy Group PLC said revenues are expected to be in line with market expectations for the full-year, buoyed by acquisitions during the period. The business communication and IT services provider said in a pre-close trading update that revenues and adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation are expected to be in line with market expectations for the year ended March 31, boosted by acquisitions made during the year.
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Renold PLC said it expects its annual results to be in line with market expectations because of "good progress" in the turnaround phase of its strategic growth plan. In a trading update ahead of results for the year ended March 31, the power transmission products firm said trading across both its divisions, as well as its net debt, have continued in line with its expectations for the full-year.
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Reach4Entertainment Completes Successful Bank Refinancing With Allied Irish Bank Group; Expects Yearly Interest Saving Of Around GBP220,000 For 2014
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Atlas Mara Names John Vitalo As CEO; Joins From Barclays Where Was CEO MENA; Confirms Agreement With Rwanda Govt For Acquisition Of Commercial Arm Of Development Bank Of Rwanda
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Porvair
Telecity Group
Synety Group
F&C US Smaller Companies
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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