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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Friday boosted by positive trade data from China, while St Modwen Properties led the mid-cap FTSE 250 index after receiving a GBP1.2 billion takeover offer.
The large-cap FTSE 100 index was up 20.59 points, or 0.3%, at 7,096.21 early Friday. The FTSE 250 index was up 97.83 points, or 0.4%, at 22,589.19. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.2% at 1,254.97.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.4% at 707.10. The Cboe 250 was up 0.2% at 20,281.81 and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.2% at 14,868.26.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.2%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.8%.
In the FTSE 100, InterContinental Hotels Group was up 0.4%. The Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza owner said trading continued to improve during the first quarter of 2021.
For the three month to March 31, revenue per available room, a key metric in the hotel industry - was down 50.6% from the same time in 2019 and down 33.7% versus 2020.
IHG noted there was a notable pick-up in demand in March, particularly in the US and China, which continued into April. In Greater China, after temporary domestic travel restrictions were lifted, demand recovered quickly in March towards levels seen in the second half of 2020, IHG added.
Conversely, fellow travel blue-chip International Consolidated Airlines Group was down 0.8%. The British Airways-parent posted a narrowed loss for the first quarter, but it still topped EUR1 billion.
IAG said its first quarter was badly hurt by the Covid-19 pandemic, as government restrictions and quarantine requirements grounded the travel sector. For the three months to March 31, IAG posted a pretax loss EUR1.22 billion, narrowed from EUR1.88 billion in the first quarter of 2020, as total revenue dropped 79% to EUR968 million from EUR4.59 billion.
Looking ahead, IAG said it won't be issuing profit guidance for 2021 due to uncertainty over travel restrictions.
IAG's hefty loss comes as holidaymakers from the UK will finally discover which destinations they can visit this summer without quarantining, with Portugal, Iceland and Malta among those expected to be on the travel green list.
Gibraltar and Israel could also make the cut when the list is published by the UK government on Friday following weeks of speculation.
Quarantine and coronavirus testing requirements for people arriving in England once foreign holidays are permitted from May 17 will be based on a new traffic light system, with destinations placed on green, amber and red lists.
Jet engine maker Rolls-Royce was the best FTSE 100 performer, up 2.7%, ahead of the travel announcement. Airlines pay Rolls-Royce for engine services depending on how many hours their engines spend in the air. In addition, midcap airline stocks easyJet and Tui were up 0.8% and 1.2% respectively.
Barclays was up 1.9% after Edward Bramson ended his campaign against the lender. Bramson's Sherborne Investors said it sold its entire 6.0% stake, worth about GBP1.84 billion, switching to another, unnamed investment opportunity.
In the FTSE 250, St Modwen Properties was the standout performer, up 19% at 534.00 pence, after the property developer said it received a conditional takeover proposal from US alternative investment firm Blackstone Group.
Blackstone made a 542p cash offer for St Modwen, valuing the firm at GBP1.2 billion and is a 21% premium to its 448p closing price on Thursday.
St Modwen, which is focused on logistics and brownfield land regeneration, said the board has indicated to Blackstone that the possible offer is at a value which it would be willing to recommend unanimously.
St Modwen and Blackstone are working closely together to complete Blackstone's confirmatory due diligence as soon as practicable, the UK firm added.
At the other end of the midcaps, John Laing was 2.8% lower after Liberum downgraded the infrastructure investor to Hold from Buy.
On Thursday, John Laing closed up 21% after it confirmed it was in talks with private equity firm KKR & Co over a potential takeover, but stressed no certainty a firm offer from KKR will be made.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.3%.
Chinese service sector business activity signalled a sharp expansion in April, data from Caixin showed, supported by the strongest rise in overall new work for five months.
The headline seasonally adjusted business activity index increased to 56.3 points in April from 54.3 in March. The upturn was the strongest recorded in 2021 to date and quicker than the series average of 54.1 points.
Separately, China's General Administration of Customs said the country's total import and export value was CNY11.62 trillion, about USD1.799 trillion, in the first four months of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 29%.
Exports were CNY6.32 trillion, a 34% jump on a year earlier, while imports were CNY5.3 trillion, an increase of 23%. The trade surplus was CNY1.02 trillion, more than doubled year-on-year.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3920 early Friday, up from USD1.3876 at the London equities close Thursday.
Hopes of a Labour party revival under Keir Starmer suffered a blow on Friday after the Conservative party comfortably won the Hartlepool by-election for the UK Parliament.
The Leave-supporting North East constituency went blue for the first time in its 47-year-old history, as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson demolished another brick in Labour's so-called "red wall".
Voters in the town backed Tory candidate Jill Mortimer to be their next member of Parliament over Labour's Paul Williams - an avid Remainer and second-referendum campaigner during his time as MP for Stockton South between 2017 to 2019 - in a rare by-election victory for a party in power for more than a decade.
The Conservative, who declared it a "truly historic result", secured a 6,940 majority winning 15,529 votes to Williams' 8,589.
The euro was priced at USD1.2065, up from USD1.2053. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY109.08, flat from JPY109.09.
Brent oil was quoted at USD68.53 a barrel Friday morning, up from USD68.39 late Thursday. Gold was quoted at USD1,819.25 an ounce, higher against USD1,813.85.
Friday's economic calendar also has UK construction PMI at 0930 BST.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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