BT Share News (BT.A)

LONDON (Alliance News) - A poor set of Chinese trade numbers has greeted investors at the start of the week, depressing London share prices at the open Monday.

China's trade surplus rose to a record high in January as imports plunged at the fastest rate in more than five years and exports also unexpectedly declined. The weak Chinese trade figures were followed early Monday by the report of a surprise decline in German imports in December.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.8% at 6,801.66
FTSE 250: down 0.6% at 16,580.97
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 701.19
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.6% at 24,521.00
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.4% at 17,711.93
DJIA: closed down 0.3% at 17,824.29
S&P 500: closed down 0.3% at 2,055.47
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.5252
EUR-USD: up at USD1.1350

GOLD: up at USD1,239.90 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD57.63 a barrel

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

09:30 EU Sentix Investor Confidence
13:15 Canada Housing Starts
15:00 US Labor Market Conditions Index
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China's trade surplus rose to a record high in January as imports plunged at the fastest rate in more than five years and exports also unexpectedly declined, figures from the customs office showed. The trade surplus came in at USD60 billion in January, more than the USD48.20 billion expected by economists. In December, the surplus was at USD49.61 billion. Exports fell 3.3% year-over-year in January, in contrast to the 5.8% rise expected by economists. Imports plunged 20%, much faster than the 3.2% drop forecast by economists. The decline in imports was the fastest since May 2009.
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Germany's trade surplus, exports and imports reached record highs in 2014, provisional data from Destatis revealed. Exports increased 3.7% to EUR1.134 trillion in 2014 and imports climbed 2% to EUR916.5 billion. In 2014, export and import levels were higher than the previous all-time highs recorded in 2012. The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of EUR217.0 billion in 2014, which was the highest value ever recorded. In December, exports recovered from November, while imports slid unexpectedly. Exports were up 3.4%, reversing a 2.2% drop in November. Meanwhile, imports dropped 0.8% after rising 1.2% a month ago. Economists had forecast exports to grow 1% and imports to rise 0.2% in December. As a result, the trade surplus increased to a seasonally adjusted EUR21.8 billion from EUR17.9 billion in the prior month.
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Germany's manufacturing turnover recovered in December, preliminary figures from Destatis showed. Manufacturing turnover rebounded by a seasonally and working-day-adjusted 0.6% month-on-month in December after the revised 0.2% drop in November.
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he still considers an agreement with EU countries on Greece's debt crisis possible despite reservations within the EU. Tsipras also told Parliament in Athens Sunday that Greece would propose a bridge deal to its EU partners to secure government funding until June. Greece risks running out of cash by the middle of the year unless a review of the country's progress in meeting the terms of its current bailout is completed by the end of February.
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Finance ministers from the euro area will hold an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Greece, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Twitter late Friday. Ministers will exchange their views on the future course of action on the Greek bailout, which is set to expire on February 28. On the following day, EU leaders including Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will meet in Brussels.
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Australia's conservative leader got to keep his job and earned a new nickname: Tick Tock Tony. Prime Minister Tony Abbott survived a confidence vote brought by backbenchers of his Liberal Party who are disillusioned with his performance. Political commentators and insiders warned that the most recent round of party infighting was unlikely to be the last. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the clock was ticking for "Tick Tock Tony."
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Washington for talks at the White House with President Barack Obama expected to be dominated by the conflict in Ukraine. Merkel is sure to express her opposition to calls in Washington for the US to begin arming the Ukrainian military in their fight against pro-Russian separatists in the east. Obama and Merkel will hold joint press conference after their meeting in the Oval Office followed by a working lunch.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to pay his first state visit to the US later this year, state media quoted a top diplomat as saying. The date has yet to be released but arrangements are now being made between Beijing and Washington for Xi's expected trip, Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the US, told Chinese reporters.
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Coalition forces fighting the Islamic State have recaptured 22% of the populated areas that the extremist group once held in the region, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview. Kerry said the territory was recaptured without the launch of a major offensive. The coalition also has "taken out a significant proportion" of top leadership of Islamic State and hit its command and control facilities, he added. Speaking on NBC, Kerry said progress made thus far showed the US-led coalition was "on the road" to defeating the group.
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The Niger army repelled a new attack by the Islamist group Boko Haram near the Nigerian border, a military source said on Sunday, one day after Nigeria postponed elections citing security concerns. Sunday's fighting in Diffa lasted for more than four hours, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Nigeria on Saturday postponed its presidential and parliamentary elections from February 14 to March 28, citing security concerns in north-eastern areas where Boko Haram could prevent people from voting.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: DEUTSCHE BANK CUTS STANDARD CHARTERED TO 'SELL' ('HOLD')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Randgold Resources said pretax profit fell in 2014 on weaker gold prices but it raised its final dividend by 20% and said it is going to continue to commit to "significant expenditure" in 2015. Gold production in the fourth quarter ended December 31 totalled 287,048 ounces compared to 299,320 ounces in the third quarter. Production fell at the Loulo-Gounkoto complex in Mali and Tongon in the Ivory Coast, offset by an increase in production at both Kibali in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Morila in Mali.
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Rolls-Royce Holdings said it has signed three contracts worth up to USD442 million to produce and support LiftSystems for the US's F-35B Lightning II aircraft. The contracts cover low-rate initial production of 17 LiftSystems for the aircraft, along with support services, for two contract periods. It is a deal between Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney, the propulsion provider for the F-35 programme.
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Land Securities Group said its Westgate Oxford Alliance joint venture has confirmed plans to proceed with the GBP440 million development. Land Securities said the joint venture, on which it is working with the Crown Estate, will start preparatory works imminently, with construction set to start in spring this year. The 800,000 square foot retail and leisure scheme in Oxford city centre is due to be completed in autumn 2017, Land Securities said.
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ARM Holdings said it has acquired Dutch security software company Offspark for an undisclosed amount. Offspark focuses on internet-of-things communication security, and its PolarSSL technology is already being used in a number of devices, including sensor modules, communication modules and smartphones, ARM said.
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The roll-out of superfast broadband, meaning a connection with speeds of more than 24 megabits per second, is on track to cover 95% of the UK by 2017, with four out of five UK properties current having access, according to figures published by the UK government. Around 80% of the UK already has access to superfast broadband, according to the figures. The government is currently undertaking a GBP1.7 billion investment in rolling out superfast broadband with BT Group.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Antiquarian books company Scholium Group outlined plans to dispose of its South Kensington book operations to a new company headed by its current chief executive and said it expects to miss market expectations for the year. Scholium said it will sell the South Kensington Books and Ultimate Library operations to a new company to be headed by Scholium Chief Executive Philip Blackwell for GBP140,000 in cash. Blackwell will leave the company from March 30 in order to focus on the South Kensington operations, with Chairman Jasper Allen to take on his executive duties while the company seeks to identify a permanent replacement.
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Asia Resource Minerals said a vehicle of financier Nat Rotschild has agreed to underwrite a USD100 million equity issue as part of a broader recapitalisation of the group, which will now look to restructure debt issued by subsidiary Berau in order to support the equity injection. Nat Rothschild, who co-founded the company with the Indonesian Bakrie family that is no longer a shareholder, owns a 17% stake in Asia Resource Minerals. The Indonesian coal miner said the issue price under the equity issue is to be set at 25 pence per share, a 79% premium to the closing price on Friday.
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Westminster Group said its managed services arm has signed a memorandum of understanding with an unnamed government-owned airport authority in Asia for the long-term provision of airport security in the country. Westminster did not provide any financial details on the deal, which has been secured via its Westminster Aviation Security Services subsidiary.
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Max Petroleum said the company is "unviable" unless it can secure further investment and successfully restructure its debt due to the fall in the oil price. The company said it is negotiating with Sberbank regarding restructuring its USD82.8 million loan owed to the bank. In August, Max Petroleum struck a deal with AGR Energy, under which AGR would obtain a 51% stake in the company in exchange for a GBP37.1 million cash subscription. On Monday, the company said the current deal with AGR will not proceed, but talks will continue about an equity investment that, together with the debt restructuring, will render the company viable at current oil prices.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Nissan Motor Co revised up its operating profit forecast for the current financial year by JPY35 billion to JPY570 billion due mainly to a weaker yen and cost-cutting measures, the company said. Japan's second-largest car-maker also raised its net profit outlook for the year through March to JPY420 billion from JPY405 billion yen predicted in November, and sales forecast to JPY11.15 trillion from JPY10.8 trillion.
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Kofax
4D Pharma
Scientific Digital Imaging
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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