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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Tuesday with the FTSE 100 recovering some of its decline on Monday, while Card Factory and Close Brothers top and tailed the FTSE 250.
The FTSE 100 was up 11.06 points, or 0.2%, at 7,337.14. The blue-chip index index closed down 18.84 points, or 0.3%, at 7,326.08 on Monday.
The FTSE 250 was down 61.67 points, or 0.3%, at 19,982.12. The AIM All-Share was down 0.48 points, or 0.1%, at 884.56.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.1% at 12,448.52. The Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 17,910.14. The Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 10,937.12.
In European equities, the CAC 40 index in Paris was up 0.1% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt up 0.2%.
"European stocks are off to a decent start on Tuesday, paring some of Monday's losses on the back of another woeful batch of PMI readings. Recession fears resurfaced on the back of the data from the euro area, as manufacturing slipped further into contraction territory and services decelerated, suggesting the weakness is spreading throughout the economy," said OANDA analyst Craig Erlam.
In the FTSE 100, Anglo-German tour operator TUI was up 1.0% after the Anglo-German tour operator said is to assess the financial impact of smaller rival Thomas Cook Group's collapse.
Thomas Cook went into insolvency in the early hours of Monday, after talks with lenders and shareholders on Sunday failed to come up with crucial funding.
FTSE 100-listed TUI is preparing measures to support its customers booked on Thomas Cook flights, it said on Tuesday, offering replacement flights. TUI is currently assessing the financial impact this will have on its financial year ending September 30.
TUI's own airline is facing "a number of ongoing external challenges". These include the grounding of Boeing Co's 737 MAX airline following two fatal accidents, airline overcapacity, and Brexit uncertainty.
"The demise of Thomas Cook may well present TUI with unexpected opportunities, although it may be some time until such benefits wash through. TUI is a rather different animal from Thomas Cook, with its diversified business model and digital aspirations providing rather more of a defence than the one broken at its former rival," said Interactive Investor's Richard Hunter.
At the other end of the large-cap index, Auto Trader was the worst performer, down 2.2% at 506.40 pence. UBS cut its price target on the automotive digital marketplace to 510p from 540p and reiterated its Sell rating on the stock.
In the FTSE 250, Card Factory was the best performer, up 7.5% after the greeting cards retailer returned to like-for-like sales growth, with its interim performance strong despite continued weakness on the UK high street.
Card Factory's like-for-like sales were up 1.5% on a year before in the six months to July 31, having declined 0.2% a year ago. Store like-for-like growth rose 1.2%, despite lower High Street footfall, with online sales surging 25%.
This helped the gift card retailer's revenue for the period climb 5.5% to GBP195.6 million, though pretax profit did decline 14% to GBP24.3 million. Underlying pretax profit slipped 7.9% to GBP22.0 million.
Card Factory has kept both the ordinary and special dividends flat for the half, at 2.9 pence and 5.0p respectively.
AG Barr was up 6.5% after the soft drinks maker raised its interim dividend and said it is on course to deliver a full-year performance in line with its revised expectations, following a profit warning in July.
For the six months ended July 27, the FTSE 250 maker of IRN-BRU reported pretax profit of GBP13.9 million, down 23% from GBP18.2 million a year before. This was on revenue that dropped by 10% to GBP122.5 million from GBP136.9 million.
AG Barr's performance was hampered by one-off benefits in the same period the prior year, including a benefit from soft drink volumes in 2018 because of favourable weather, including a hot summer in the UK.
AG Barr declared an interim dividend of 4.00 pence per share, up 2.6% from 3.90p the year before.
At the bottom of the mid-cap index, Close Brothers was down 4.7%, after the merchant bank announced the departure of Chief Executive Preben Prebensen, in tandem with its annual results.
For the financial year ended July, pretax profit slipped 2.4% to GBP264.7 million from GBP271.2 million the year prior. This was despite operating income rising 1.3% to GBP816.4 million from GBP805.8 million the year before.
Profit performance was hurt by operating costs increasing at the faster pace of 3.5% to GBP497.4 million from GBP480.5 million the year prior.
Prebensen said he will step down as boss of the FTSE 250-listed firm after a decade in the role. He will remain at the firm for another year in order to "ensure a smooth handover".
The pound was quoted at USD1.2443 early Tuesday, flat from USD1.2440 at the London equities close Monday.
The UK's highest court will give its historic ruling on Tuesday morning over the legality of the five-week suspension of Parliament.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been accused of an unlawful "abuse of power", will be in the US when the Supreme Court announces its findings, following an unprecedented hearing last week.
Eleven justices have been asked to determine whether his advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament, for what opponents describe as an "exceptionally long" period, was unlawful.
The Supreme Court decision is due at 1030 BST.
"Remember the prime minister is already in a very tight spot. He doesn't hold a majority in the House of Commons, a Supreme court's decision against him would push him further in the corner. However, if the Supreme Court delivers a verdict in his favour, it would strengthen the prime minister's position. Strength in Johnson's position would also make the EU lawmakers nervous as well," commented ThinkMarkets analyst Naeem Aslam.
The economic events calendar on Tuesday has UK public sector borrowing figures at 0930 BST.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.3%. Financial markets in Japan reopened on Tuesday after being closed on Monday for a holiday.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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