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(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 was looking to keep up the week's winning streak on Wednesday, outperforming peers elsewhere in Europe due to a weaker pound, amid a stock price rise for publisher Pearson and a rebound for hospital operator NMC Health.
The FTSE 100 index was up 20.36 points, or 0.3%, at 7,545.64 early Wednesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 3.85 points, or 0.3%, at 21,616.35 . The AIM All-Share index was flat at 927.60.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.3% at 12,787.09. The Cboe 250 was down 0.2% at 19,525.05, and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.1% at 11,898.73.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.1% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt down 0.3%.
Markets have entered "holiday mode", said Craig Erlam at Oanda, with Europe mixed at the open.
"We're not exactly short of things to discuss," he said. "The phase one trade deal between the US and China is, sort of, wrapped up. The final few pieces of tape are still being applied and who knows how long that will take. This deal was done in October, remember. Still, no new tariffs makes for a very merry Christmas for US consumers and Chinese manufacturers."
In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended down 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.1%. Â
In opening trade in London, NMC Health was the top performer in the FTSE 100 after hitting back at a Muddy Waters report in which the short-seller alleged "rot" at the UAE-focused healthcare firm.
NMC shares slumped 32% on Tuesday following the report, though was staging a partial rebound on Wednesday with the stock up 8.3%.
NMC "understands" its regulatory disclosure obligations and "has nothing to add to disclosures already made". The company added that it has already responded to many of the allegations made in the report over the past 12 months.
"NMC will review the assertions, insinuations and accusations made in the report, which appear principally unfounded, baseless and misleading, containing many errors of fact, and will respond in detail in due course," the company said.
NMC reaffirmed its trading and operational guidance for both 2019 and 2020. The FTSE 100 constituent also on Wednesday said it will commence a share buyback of up to USD200 million, a move which was approved by shareholders earlier in December.
Finablr - which ended down 11% on Tuesday - noted "recent volatility" in its share price, and said there was "no financial or operational reason" for this. The stock was up 1.0% early Tuesday.
Travelex owner Finablr was founded by Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, who also founded NMC. Shetty is joint chair of NMC Health and also co-chair of Finablr.
Finablr said it remains on track to achieve the guidance set out at its IPO, which was reaffirmed in November.
Pearson was up 3.7%, the second best blue-chip performer. The educational publisher has agreed to sell its remaining stake in Penguin Random House, announced a share buyback, and said Chief Executive John Fallon intends to retire.
Pearson has agreed to sell its remaining 25% stake in book publisher Penguin Random House to partner Bertelsmann for USD675 million, or around GBP530 million.
Pearson said it will launch a GBP350 million share buyback in "early 2020", with the remainder of the proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes. The transaction is in line with Pearson's simplification strategy, the company added.
Separately, Pearson said Fallon intends to step down as CEO. He will retire in 2020 once a replacement has been appointed, with a succession process to consider both external and internal candidates.
"There's a lot still to do but we're making good progress in navigating Pearson through a period of huge change...We're now at the stage where it's time to transition to a new leader, who can bring a fresh perspective," said Fallon.
IntegraFin Holdings, down 2.4%, said it was "very pleased" with its annual results as it also reported its chief executive intends to step back from the role.
Fee income for the financial year ended September 30 was GBP99.2 million, up from GBP91.2 million the year before, with pretax profit rising to GBP56.1 million from GBP46.2 million.
Funds under direction amounted to GBP37.8 billion, up from GBP33.1 million a year ago. Gross inflows of GBP5.70 billion were 4% lower than last year and net inflows were down 15%.
Separately, the company said Ian Taylor intends to step down as CEO. He will remain an executive director, while Alex Scott will become IntegraFin's new CEO. Scott is currently group director of the company and has been with IntegraFin since 2009.
Cairn Energy was up 5.3% after Morgan Stanley raised the oil & gas firm to Overweight from Equal Weight.
In forex, sterling was quoted at USD1.3106 early Wednesday, lower than USD1.3137 at the London equities close on Tuesday, as the pound continued to slide on no-deal Brexit fears.
The pound rose above the USD1.35 mark on Thursday following the UK election exit poll, though has since slipped.
"Sterling continued its post-election slide yesterday on concerns about amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill. Today's UK economic data seems unlikely to have much impact on market pricing as the focus is on potential developments in Parliament and tomorrow's Bank of England policy update," said Lloyds Banking.
The euro was quoted at USD1.1134 early Wednesday, down slightly from USD1.1152 late Tuesday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY109.42 versus JPY109.52.
In commodities, gold was quoted at USD1,477.72 early Wednesday, firm from USD1,476.00 at the London equities close on Tuesday. Brent was quoted at USD65.82 early Wednesday, soft compared to USD65.92 at the London equities close on Tuesday.
In the economic calendar on Wednesday, there is the German Ifo business climate index at 0900 GMT. In the UK, consumer price inflation is out at 0930 GMT and eurozone inflation due at 1000 GMT.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives will vote Wednesday to make US President Donald Trump only the third US leader ever impeached and placed on trial in the Senate.
Trump is accused of attempting to force Ukraine into what would have been a damaging announcement of an unfounded probe into a main 2020 reelection rival, Joe Biden. He is also accused of obstructing Congress by refusing to cooperate with the impeachment investigation, barring staff from testifying and holding back documentary evidence.
The two articles of impeachment are certain to pass in the House, where Democrats hold a firm majority.
That will send the case to the Senate, where a trial of Trump is expected to open in January, and his acquittal is equally expected, given the Republicans' control there.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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