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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set for a positive open on Friday despite mounting allegations against US President Donald Trump of a possible abuse of power.
In early UK company news, residential landlord Grainger reported a solid year of trading, while waste and water utility Pennon Group is to review future operations following strong performances from its two main businesses.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 15.5 points higher at 7,366.58. The blue-chip index closed up 61.09 points, or 0.8%, at 7,351.08 on Thursday.
A secret whistleblower complaint at the centre of an impeachment inquiry alleges President Trump abused the power of his office to "solicit interference from a foreign country" in next year's US election.
The White House then tried to "lock down" the information to cover it up, the complaint says.
The nine-page document was released on Thursday ahead of evidence to House of Representatives investigators from Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence.
The whistleblower complaint is at least in part related to the July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which Trump prodded Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden.
More reassuring for markets, China's Commerce Ministry on Thursday said Chinese companies bought "considerable" quantities of American pork and soybean exports as the two countries prepare to resume high-level negotiations next month. This came a day after the US unveiled part of a new trade deal with Japan.
"This optimism appears to currently outweigh concerns about impeachment surrounding the president and the controversial telephone conversation Trump had with President Zelensky," said Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 0.3%, the S&P 500 down 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.6%.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.8% Friday. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.2%.
In early UK corporate news, FTSE 250 residential landlord Grainger reported a "strong" performance in the 11 months to August, with overall renal growth of 3.4% year-on-year. On a like-for-like basis, rental growth on private rental sector homes was 3.1%.
Occupancy was strong, Grainger continued, at 97.5% in the private rental sector, and retention rates were "excellent".
Grainger is on track with regard to completions, having completed 912 private rental homes in its year ending September 30 with another 1,150 to come.
Grainer also unveiled a new private rental sector technology platform, called Connect, which allows customers to carry out renting and living administration on mobile phones or computers. The firm said the platform will support its "major" growth plans.
Pennon Group is on track to meet expectations for its year ending March 2020, with funding and liquidity both "strong".
Waste business Viridor is doing well, Pennon said, while South West Water is on track to deliver "continued outperformance" and an improved return on regulated equity.
Revenue in South West Water has returned to a "more normal" level for the half-year ending September, after the exceptionally hot summer of 2018, meeting board expectations.
Given the good performance in Viridor and South West Water, Pennon has decided to "conduct a full review of the strategic focus, growth options and capital allocation policy for the group".
James Fisher has signed a "multi-million" pound contract to design and build submarine rescue equipment, including deep search & rescue vehicles, for China Shipbuilding & Offshore International.
"This contract award underlines James Fisher's position as market leader in the submarine rescue market, safeguarding the lives of submariners and providing a comprehensive submarine rescue capability to organisations around the world," said Chief Executive Nick Henry.
Elsewhere, veterinary services firm CVS Group reported a 17% fall in pretax profit for the year to June to GBP11.7 million, due to amortisation costs related to acquisitions. The adjusted figure climbed 15% to GBP41.4 million.
CVS posted revenue of GBP406.5 million, 24% higher than the year before, and like-for-like revenue was 5.2% higher.
It will be paying a dividend of 5.5 pence per share for the year, up 10% on the year before.
There was a "significant" second-half improvement, CVS said, making it confident on further progress in the new year.
Stockbroker Numis said political uncertainty and challenging market conditions, which hindered first-half performance, have continued into the second.
UK equity capital markets volumes and trading activity in UK equities have declined "significantly" year-on-year, but Numis expects a "reasonable" second-half performance, with second-half revenue in line with the first half and slightly down year-on-year.
As a result, there will be a mid-to-high teens percentage decline in revenue for the year ending September, and a "somewhat greater fall in profit".
Consumer confidence in the UK increased in September in the "wait and see run-up" to the October 31 Brexit deadline, according to a survey.
The long-running GfK Consumer Confidence Index increased by two points to minus 12, with all five of the survey's measures including personal finances and the general economy showing an uptick in positivity.
Expectations for the general economic situation over the next 12 months increased three points to minus 35, eight points lower than September last year.
None of the UK's biggest cities saw annual property growth hitting 5% or more in August, marking the first time this has happened since 2012 as the market adjusts to more realistic pricing, according to an index.
Zoopla's index, which covers house price movements in the UK's 20 biggest cities, found that the fastest rate of year-on-year house price growth in August was in Leicester, at 4.8%, according to Zoopla.
It was the first time since December 2012 that the city with the fastest house price growth had an annual rate of price inflation below 5%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2329 early Friday, soft against USD1.2358 at the close Thursday.
Still in the economic calendar on Friday are eurozone consumer confidence data at 1000 BST.
In the afternoon, there are US personal consumption expenditure figures at 1330 BST - the core reading is the US Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
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