Card Factory Share News (CARD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened marginally higher on Tuesday as concerns over Turkey eased slightly, while UK insurer esure agreed to a GBP1.21 takeover by private equity firm Bain Capital. The FTSE 100 index was up 0.1%, or 10.00 points, at 7,652.45. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 0.3% at 68.81 points at 20,643.92. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.1% at 1,086.24.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.1% at 12,981.14, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 18,726.44, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 12,273.32.Stock markets were seeing respite as the Turkish lira pulled back after hitting record low against the dollar on Monday. This followed the country's central bank announcing measures to boost liquidity and help its banks.On the London Stock Exchange, Antofagasta was the worst blue-chip performer, down 4.5% after the Chilean copper miner reported a drop in interim earnings as cost rises offset a revenue increase.For the six months to June, revenue increased 3.6% year-on-year to USD2.12 billion, driven by a 10% rise in copper prices despite copper output falling 8.5% to 317,000 tonnes.Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation fell 16% to USD904.2 million due to higher costs - the Ebitda margin fell to 43% from 53%.Antofagata's pretax profit for the period was USD465.6 million, down from USD688.6 million a year ago.Group cash costs were USD1.92 per pound, 36 cents higher year-on-year, due to a stronger Chilean peso, lower production, and higher input costs. Production was hit by lower grades as well as a pipeline blockage at the Los Pelambres mine.In the FTSE 250, Elementis was the best performer, up 7.4% after Berenberg raised the specialty chemicals company to Buy from Hold.esure Group was up 3.7% after the insurer agreed to be purchased by private equity firm Bain Capital, an approach first announced on Monday. The stock closed up 31% on Monday.Under the offer, esure shareholders will be entitled to receive 280 pence per share - which values the firm at GBP1.21 billion. The offer represents a premium of 37% to Friday's closing share price of 204 pence, being the last business day prior to the commencement of the offer.The all-cash offer has been unanimously recommended by esure's independent directors and accepted by its largest shareholder, Chairman Peter Wood, with 31%, and second largest shareholder, Toscafund, with 17%. Wood also has agreed to stay on as chairman after the takeover and reinvest GBP50 million.Large cap peer Direct Line Insurance Group was the best blue chip performer, up 1.7%, in a read-across. At the other end of the midcap index, Card Factory was the worst performer, down 4.6% after Berenberg downgraded the greeting card retailer to Sell from Hold. The pound was back above USD1.28 ahead of UK unemployment data at 0930 BST, quoted at USD1.2804 from USD1.2763 at the London equities close Monday. Sterling remains at around one-year lows against the dollar. The headline unemployment rate in the UK is forecast to hold steady at 4.2% and average earnings excluding bonuses are expected to rise by 2.7%. "The pound may not gain much support from today's labour market report as the market awaits more news on Brexit developments. Negotiations are reported to resume in Brussels on Thursday," noted analysts at Lloyds. In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.7% early Tuesday.The euro was firm against the dollar quoted at USD1.1425 from USD1.1408 at the European equities close Monday.In economic news from the continent, Germany's economic growth exceeded expectations in the second quarter, data published by Destatis revealed. Gross domestic product climbed 0.5% sequentially, following the revised 0.4% increase in the first quarter. The growth rate was seen at 0.4%. On a yearly basis, GDP advanced at a faster pace of 2.3% after expanding 1.4% a quarter ago. Meanwhile, Germany's consumer price inflation slowed as initially estimated in July, latest figures from Destatis showed. Inflation moderated to a 3-month low of 2.0% in July from 2.1% in June. That was in line with the flash data published on July 30.Still to come in the economic calendar is eurozone GDP and industrial production figures at 1000 BST. In the afternoon there is US import and export data at 1330 BST. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 2.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 1.1%.Retail sales in China jumped 8.8% on year in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That was shy of forecasts for a gain of 9.1% and down from 9.0% in June.The bureau also noted that industrial production advanced an annual 6.0% - unchanged from a month earlier but again beneath forecasts for 6.3%.Japan's industrial production decreased less than initially estimated in June, preliminary figures from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed Tuesday. Industrial production dropped a seasonally-adjusted 1.8% month-over-month in June, faster than the 0.2% fall in the previous month. That was slower than the 2.1% decline in the flash data.Elsewhere, US President Donald Trump on Monday signed a USD716 billion defence policy spending bill aimed at modernizing the military and improving readiness.Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act in front of thousands of soldiers dressed in camouflage at Fort Drum, a US Army base about 400 kilometres north-west of New York City.The bill is "the most significant investment in our military, and our war fighters in modern history," Trump said.It will be used to replace ageing tanks, planes and ships "with the most advanced and lethal technology ever developed," Trump said. "And hopefully, we'll be so strong, we'll never have to use it, but if we ever did, nobody has a chance."