FJET.L Share News (FJET)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London were higher at midday on Friday as European Union leaders carved out a deal on immigration and investors shrug off trade tensions - albeit temporarily.The FTSE 100 index was up 0.6%, or 48.25 points, at 7,663.95 at midday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 0.5%, or 95.72 points, at 20,779.93. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.6% at 1,079.08.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.7% at 12,991.71, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.5% at 19,007.75, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 16,642.32.EU leaders reached a hard-fought deal on migration that foresees EU countries voluntarily establishing "controlled centres" on their soil to process migrants rescued at sea while also exploring the possibility of opening migrant centres outside Europe. The compromise deal, reached in the early hours of Friday, came after more than 12 hours of negotiations as EU leaders met under growing pressure to move towards a solution on migration, which has increasingly been seen as endangering the bloc's very existence. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government was under strain over migrant policy.Under the deal, EU member states would set up - on a strictly voluntary basis - "controlled centres" on their own territory to process migrants rescued at sea."A boost to eurozone stability has helped drive the euro and European stocks higher, with a deal over immigration at the EU summit helping alleviate fears over an immigration based breakdown in German political stability. Stocks are higher across the board in Europe, with markets to end a highly volatile week on a positive note," said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.On the London Stock Exchange, BAE Systems was among the best blue chip performers up 2.7% after the defence giant reported progress on a number of contracts in the first half of its current financial year and confirmed it won a tender to deliver the SEA 5000 programme for the Royal Australian Navy.BAE said it remains in financing talks with the government of Qatar regarding the supply of 24 Typhoon aircraft to the Qatar Emiri Air Force. In addition, JPMorgan raised the stock to Neutral from Underweight. Peer Rolls-Royce was up 3.2%. In the FTSE 250, John Laing Group was up 3.4% after the infrastructure group said it is maintaining its full-year investment guidance as it is currently a part of GBP607 million in investment bids. John Laing said it is currently bidding on several contracts, totalling GBP607 million. The company said it is involved in 12 shortlisted public private partnership bids "due to reach financial close in the next two years".At the other end of the midcaps, Elementis was the worst performer down 9.0% after the speciality chemicals company reached an agreement to acquire Dutch industrial talc additive company Mondo Minerals for USD600 million. The deal will be comprised of a USD280 million rights issue of new shares and new committed debt facilities of USD775 million to finance the purchase.Elementis said it expects the rights issue and acquisition to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2018. The rights issue is underwritten by UBS and HSBC Bank, which will determine with Elementis the number of new shares to be issued and their price. Elementis expects the acquisition, the existing debt of the company and Mondo, and the funding of the new enlarged company to be financed by the rights issue and the new debt facilities.On London's junior market shares in Fastjet more than tripled to 8.0 pence after the Africa-focused airline successfully raised USD10 million in a placing and subscription announced earlier. Fastjet has raised USD7.0 million by placing 66.5 million new shares at 8 pence each, while its biggest shareholder Solenta Aviation Holdings has subscribed for 28.9 million new shares at the same price, raising a further USD3.0 million. On Wednesday, the group warned it needed cash to continue trading on AIM. The airline said the raise will give it enough funds to keep going for the rest of 2018.The pound was higher quoted at USD1.3150 at midday, compared to USD1.3095 at the London equities close Thursday, following well-received UK economic data. Sterling was trading at seven-month lows versus the dollar on Thursday. The UK economy expanded more than the previous estimate in the first quarter, data published by the Office for National Statistics showed. Gross domestic product grew 0.2% sequentially in the first quarter, which was revised upward by 0.1 percentage points, reflecting improvement in construction output. Nonetheless, the pace of growth was weaker than the 0.4% seen in the fourth quarter of 2017. On a yearly basis, GDP growth slowed to 1.2%, as initially estimated, from revised 1.3% in the previous quarter, data showed. On the production side, the dominant services sector, logged an unrevised growth of 0.3% on the month in April and was 1.6% higher annually. Meanwhile, overall production output grew 0.4% instead of 0.6% as manufacturing contracted 0.1%."The annual result remains the same in the preliminary estimate, but service sector output was palpably stronger in the latest snapshot than in the weather-dampened snap shot. Whilst the annual overall print remains the worst since 2012, a services economy accelerating from 1.2% to 1.6% backs the view of most Bank of England policymakers that the early-2018 slowdown was temporary. In turn, credence is given to likelihood of a further 2018 interest rate rise, after the bank's about turn in May," said City Index's Ken Odeluga.In political news, Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, has told UK Prime Minister Theresa May to produce "realistic and workable" proposals as May called for the process to accelerate.Barnier said "huge and serious divergence" remains over issues relating to Ireland and Northern Ireland and called for an extra session of negotiations with UK officials on Monday.May said she hoped a new phase in the Brexit talks would be possible after the publication of the Government's White Paper calling for negotiations to speed up and intensify once the document is published.Details of the White Paper are expected to be agreed by Cabinet ministers at next Friday's Chequers away day.In Paris the CAC 40 was up 1.2%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 1.1%. The euro was higher against the greenback at USD1.1657 at midday, against USD1.1576 at the European equities close Thursday, following positive economic data from the bloc. Eurozone inflation reached 2% in June, narrowly exceeding the European Central Bank's target rate, according to an estimate released by the EU's statistics agency, Eurostat. The ECB's aims to keep annual inflation rates below, but close to, 2% over the medium term.In May, the cost of living had increased by 1.9% year-on-year in the 19-member currency bloc. The rise is largely down to a jump in energy prices compared to June 2017, followed by a more modest increase in food, alcohol and tobacco prices. The cost of services and non-energy industrial goods also rose slightly.In addition, Germany's unemployment rate remained at record low in June, reports said citing the Federal Labor Agency. The jobless rate held steady at 5.2% in June, the lowest since German reunification in 1990. The rate also matched economists' expectations. The number of people out of work decreased 15,000 in June compared to the expected decline of 8,000.Stocks on Wall Street are set for a higher open on Friday looking to build on gains from Thursday.The DJIA was called up 0.4%, the S&P 500 index up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.3%.Still to come in the economic events calendar, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis will publish personal income and spending reports for May at 1330 BST. The personal consumption expenditure index is the US Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation.