Gemfields Grou. Share News (GEM)

LONDON (Alliance News) - A quiet day is likely for markets Monday, with the US on holiday for Independence Day. However, mining stocks were pointing stock prices in the direction of a fifth consecutive day of gains in early trade.

In the red was International Consolidated Airlines, down 1.6%, after an investigation was launched in Spain into the British Airways owner's low-cost airline Vueling, following chaos caused by the company at Barcelona airport at the weekend,

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.5% at 6,608.74
FTSE 250: up 0.2% at 16,496.59
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.4% at 716.18
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Hang Seng: up 1.4% at 21,084.42
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.6% at 15,775.80
DJIA: closed up 0.1% at 17,949.37
S&P 500: closed up 0.2% at 2,102.95
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GBP: flat at USD1.3282 (USD1.3268)
EUR: soft at USD1.1124 (USD1.1145)

GOLD: up at USD1,350.46 per ounce (USD1,337.16)
OIL (Brent): up at USD50.49 a barrel (USD49.74)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

holiday US Independence Day

09:30 UK PMI construction
09:30 EU Sentix investor confidence
10:00 EU producer price index
12:00 Ireland consumer confidence
14:30 Canada RBC manufacturing PMI
15:30 Bank of Canada business outlook survey
18:30 ECB President Draghi's speech
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Home Secretary Theresa May's campaign to take the keys to No 10 has continued to soar ahead of her rivals as she secured the backing of another Cabinet minister just one day before the first round of voting in the contest. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond hailed the Home Secretary's "determination in standing up to vested interests" as he threw his support behind her campaign. The Home Secretary has been backed by a number of senior figures in the party, including Leave campaigner Chris Grayling and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon. May has failed to meet the government's target to cut net migration to the tens of thousands but Hammond insisted she was committed to controlling immigration.
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UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is planning to cut corporation tax to less than 15% as part of a plan to give Britain a post-Brexit-vote economic boost. The chancellor said the UK must show it was "still open for business" following the decision to leave the EU as he set out plans to create a "super competitive economy". Slicing more than five percentage points off the current 20% rate would see Britain close in on Ireland's 12.5% levy and make the country one of the most competitive global economies for corporate tax.
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The monetary base in Japan surged in June from a year ago, the Bank of Japan said. The monetary base jumped 25.4% year-over-year in June, with an outstanding amount of 403.94 trillion yen. It was slightly slower than the 25.5% growth in May.
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Over 100 people were killed on Sunday morning, an Iraqi police official said, after a car bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State extremist group hit crowds during the busy shopping period ahead of the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. At least 170 more people were injured in the bombing, which rocked a busy commercial area in the Iraqi capital's central district of Karada, the official, who declined to be quoted by name, said.
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A suicide bomber blew himself up outside the US consulate in Jeddah, western Saudi Arabia, killing himself and injuring two consular security officials, a news report said. Security was on high alert after the incident, which occured after the driver was stopped at a checkpoint outside the consulate, sabq reported online. The Interior Ministry was expected to make a statement later Monday, it said.
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Bangladeshi militants were behind the hostage crisis in Dhaka that left 20 civilians dead, a top police official said, denying any link with the Islamic State extremist group. The civilians, most of them foreigners, were killed by Islamist militants who took them hostage during an hours-long siege that started Friday at a restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital. Troops stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant in Dhaka's diplomatic zone early Saturday to end the siege, and killed six terrorists. Two police officers were also killed.
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Thirteen suspects affiliated with Islamic State, including three foreigners, were remanded to custody over the terrorist attack on Istanbul's Ataturk international airport, DHA news agency reported. Prosecutors charged the suspects of membership in a terrorist organization and cooperation in premeditated murder and they were jailed pending trial. The primary suspects allegedly telephoned with the three suicide bombers the day before the attacks.
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Australians woke up Sunday to a political limbo after the previous day's parliamentary election failed to deliver a clear winner, with a strong probability for a hung parliament. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who had called an early election after dissolving both houses of parliament, seem to have fared badly, while the Labor party, led by Bill Shorten, has made a comeback. With less than 80% of the votes counted so far, the two parties are neck-and-neck with 67 seats each in the 150-seat lower house.
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Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was interviewed for three and a half hours by the FBI on Saturday amid a probe into her use of a private email server while secretary of state. "Secretary Clinton gave a voluntary interview this morning about her email arrangements while she was secretary," her spokesman Nick Merrill said. The FBI is investigating Clinton's server to see if classified information was mishandled, a topic which has become a key issue in her presidential campaign.
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The head of the Anti-Defamation League called on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to denounce anti-Semitic supporters after he published an image of Clinton with a Star of David on his Twitter page. The image of Clinton in front of a pile of money featured a red six-pointed star emblazoned with the words, "Most corrupt candidate ever!" The image tweeted on Saturday was later deleted from Trump's Twitter account and replaced with a similar image with the words inside a circle, but not before the image drew outrage for allegedly tying Clinton to anti-Semitic stereotypes.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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GOLDMAN RAISES BAE SYSTEMS TO 'CONVICTION BUY LIST' ('BUY') - TARGET 653 PENCE
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TRADERS: LIBERUM RAISES STAGECOACH GROUP TO 'HOLD' ('SELL')
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TRADERS: RBC CAPITAL CUTS SERCO GROUP TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('SECTOR PERFORM')
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TRADERS: BERNSTEIN RAISES HARGREAVES LANSDOWN TO 'MARKET-PERFORM' ('UNDERP.')
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN CUTS MITCHELLS & BUTLERS TO 'NEUTRAL' ('OVERWEIGHT')
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN RAISES MARSTONS TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL')
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN INITIATES PETRA DIAMONDS WITH 'OVERWEIGHT'
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN CUTS GEMFIELDS TO 'NEUTRAL' ('OVERWEIGHT')
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TRADERS: BARCLAYS CUTS RIGHTMOVE TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' ('OVERWEIGHT')
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TRADERS: BARCLAYS CUTS MONEYSUPERMARKET.COM TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' ('OVERWEIGHT')
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP RAISES CAIRN ENERGY TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Outsourcer Capita appointed a new chairman-designate and said it has extended its deal with the UK's Pension Regulator for three years. Capita said the Pensions Regulator has extended its contract with the firm to provide direct communications to employers in the UK on the roll-out of auto-enrolment pensions. The contract is worth an additional GBP37.0 million over three years from October 2018, Capita said. Capital also named Ian Powell as its chairman designate, with plans for him to take over at the helm on January 1, 2017. Powell is the former chairman and senior partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers, having stepped down from that role last week.
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An investigation has been launched into Spain's low-cost airline Vueling following chaos caused by the company at Barcelona airport at the weekend, the Spanish Transport Ministry said. The management of the airline has been summoned to an emergency meeting in Madrid on Monday where they would be expected to deliver "explanations and immediate corrective measures," the statement said. After days of "operational problems," a further 13 flights were cancelled by the Catalan airline by midday Sunday without any reason being given, La Vanguardia newspaper reported online. Vueling is a subsidiary of IAG to which Iberia and British Airways also belong.
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Jean-Sébastien Jacques, new chief executive officer of Rio Tinto, wants to grow the company by both building and buying mines, according to reports. Anglo-Australian rival BHP Billiton last year carved off a large chunk of mine pits and smelters in places from Australia to Africa, shifting its focus to just four commodities. Rio Tinto Group's new chief executive officer reportedly pledged to keep the head office of the world's second-biggest miner in London after Britain's vote to leave the EU raised fears businesses will flee.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Aerospace, defence and satellite technology company Cobham said it has secured a ten-year, AUD1.2 billion contract to provide airline services to Australian airline QantasLink. The deal will see Cobham continue to provide support to QantasLink's fleet of 20 Boeing 717 aircraft through to the end of 2026, under a partnership which started in 1991. QantasLink is the Australian regional brand of Qantas Airways, the Australian flag carrier.
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Kier Group said its underlying trading performance has remained in line with management's expectations, and it has seen no impact to date from the UK's vote to leave the European Union. The property, construction and services company said its net debt position on June 30 stood at GBP140.0 million, which was better than the forecast range of GBP150.0 million to GBP170.0 million, and equated to a net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation ratio of less than 1, ahead of Kier's Vision 2020 goal of a ratio of 1 by June 30, 2017. Kier said current trading is positive and the group noted that, while there is some uncertainty resulting from the EU referendum, there has been no impact on Kier to date.
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Shipping company Clarkson said profit in 2016 will be "materially lower" year-on-year as it continues to face challenges in its key markets. Clarkson said the recent recovery in the oil price has driven the return of some activity in the company's offshore broking division, but it will take some time before a meaningful recovery is seen in the oil and gas industry.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Solid fuels, bulk material logistics and earthworks services provider Hargreaves Services said a GBP7.0 million earthworks projects on its books has been postponed due to uncertainty following the UK's decision to vote to leave the EU, though the group said trading in its recently ended financial year met market expectations. Hargreaves Services said it will be a net beneficiary of the sterling weakness which has followed the UK referendum vote, due to its current stocks of largely US dollar-denominated coal and coke.
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Property investor Urban&Civic said it has entered into contracts with Redrow for the FTSE 250-listed housebuilder to build out 200 plots under licence on a third parcel of land in Alconbury Weald in Cambridgeshire. The land parcel comprises of 16.6 acres of land and is the third parcel at the site on course to be developed, after Urban&Civic previously entered into contracts with property developers Hopkins Homes and Morris Homes for two parcels in Alconbury Weald.
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RedstoneConnect said its Connect IB unit has won a contract extensions with drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline to deploy its Site Map application in Asia. RedstoneConnect, the smart buildings technology company formerly known at Coms, said the agreement will see its Site Map application rolled out at Glaxo's Singapore locations and follows the successful implementation of the application in Glaxo offices in Europe.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Volkswagen's chief executive officer Matthias Müller has rejected calls from the EU for a US-style compensation package for European customers affected in the Diesel emissions scandal, according to reports.During the meeting on Thursday with Elzbieta Bienkowska, the EU Industry Commissioner, Müller reportedly made clear that Volkswagen had no intention of offering equal compensation to Europeans who bought tainted diesel vehicles. He said tougher US emissions standards made it more difficult to fix the cars to make them compliant than in Europe, requiring the hefty payments in the US, but not in Europe.
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Walt Disney is reportedly in talks to buy a stake in Major League Baseball Advanced Media. According to LA Times, citing people with knowledge of the matter, Disney is seeking to acquire one-third interest in the MLB.com, which develops and manages the league's digital products. The deal is expected to give MLB Advanced Media a valuation of about USD3.5 billion.
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Tesla said it produced 18,345 vehicles in the second-quarter, an increase of 20% from the first-quarter, and exited the quarter consistently producing just under 2,000 vehicles per week. Due to the steep production ramp, almost half of the quarter's production occurred in the final four weeks. With continued productivity improvements, Tesla expects output to reach 2,200 vehicles per week in third-quarter and 2,400 vehicles per week in the fourth-quarter.
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Monday's Shareholder Meetings

London Stock Exchange Group (re all-share merger with Deutsche Borse AG)
LGO Energy
Tissue Regenix Group
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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