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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening higher on Monday, amid fresh hopes for a coronavirus vaccine and despite a worsened situation in the US.
Investors welcomed comments from the head of German biotech firm BioNTech who said a vaccine candidate would be ready for regulatory review by the end of the year, while Gilead Sciences said its drug remdesivir had been relatively effective in clinical trials.
In early company news, Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air said its Abu Dhabi-based joint venture carrier will begin inaugural flights in October. Egyptian gold miner Centamin said it was on track to meet annual production guidance. Self-storage company Big Yellow acquired a freehold site.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 68.59 points higher at 6,164.00. The blue-chip index closed up 45.79 points, or 0.8%, at 6,095.41 on Friday.
Wizz Air Holdings said Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, which has been granted national airline status by the United Arab Emirates, will start operations on October 1. The airline will base two new Airbus A321neo aircraft in Abu Dhabi, with an initial network of six new routes to Alexandria, Athens, Kutaisi, Larnaca, Odesa and Yerevan.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is a joint venture between state-owned ADQ and the low-cost Eastern Europe-focused airline. It is the Wizz Air's first airline established outside of Europe.
Wizz Air said four additional, "ultra-modern" Airbus A321neo aircraft will be allocated in the first 6 months of operation, with the route network to be announced in due course. Wizz Air currently has five additional routes to Abu Dhabi on sale from Bucharest, Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, Katowice and Sofia.
"I am delighted to announce the initial network of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi and reconfirm the start of its operations on 1 October. This announcement is the first step of a long and much-awaited journey as we are dedicated to developing our presence in Abu Dhabi, contributing to Abu Dhabi's economic diversity strategy while offering ever more affordable travel opportunities on our low fare network. We much appreciate the support we have been given by the government, its affiliated organizations and our local business partners in Abu Dhabi," said Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi.
Centamin said it is on track to meet 2020 full-year guidance, with its production range narrowed to between 510,000 to 525,000 ounces of gold. The Egyptian miner had previously set production guidance in a range between 510,000 and 540,000 ounces of gold for 2020.
Centamin said second-quarter output was up 11% to 130,994 ounces from 117,913 in the second quarter of 2019.
Operations, supply chain and gold shipments so far have not been materially hurt by Covid-19, it said.
"Today's results reflect a good first-half performance for 2020,"
CEO Martin Horgan said, adding: "Whilst we continue to actively manage the potential future impacts of Covid-19, we remain confident we are on track to meet guidance and have narrowed the production range to 510,000 to 525,000 ounces and kept cost guidance unchanged."
Big Yellow Group said it has acquired a site at 60-70 The Highway, Wapping, London, adjacent to an existing store, for GBP18.6 million. The company said it plans a new-build self-storage centre on the newly acquired land.
"This is a strategically located site on the fringes of Central London and continues our strategy of building large, high-quality stores as close to London's city centre as possible," said CEO James Gibson.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.4%, S&P 500 up 1.1%, and Nasdaq Composite up 0.7%.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 2.1% on Monday. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 1.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.2%.
"Asian markets have opened with a positive tone today, after a relatively quiet news weekend. That is a broad continuation of the positive tone with which Wall Street closed out the week on Friday. Asia itself appears to content to climb out and enter the holding pattern, circling there for an extended period today, waiting for landing slots to open in London and New York," said OANDA analyst Jeffery Halley.
Investors have shrugged off grim infection news from the US amid ongoing optimism regarding the timeline for the discovery and roll-out of an effective vaccine.
The US, the country hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, on Sunday recorded 59,747 new cases over the last 24-hour period, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. The number of cases in the US has rocketed in recent weeks, hitting a record of 66,528 in 24 hours on Saturday. Florida has shattered the US record for the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any state since the beginning of the pandemic.
It added more than 15,000 cases to its total as the daily average death toll also continued to rise. The numbers come at the end of a grim, record-breaking week as Florida reported 514 fatalities – an average of 73 per day. Three weeks ago, the state was averaging 30 deaths per day.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2663 early Monday, flat from USD1.2661 at the London close on Friday.
The euro was trading at USD1.1334, up from USD1.1317. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY106.90, down from JPY107.75
Brent oil was priced at USD42.58 a barrel Monday morning, lower from USD42.72 late Friday. Gold was quoted at USD1,804.25 an ounce, up from USD1,801.62.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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