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LONDON (Alliance News) - Weak Chinese trade data have led to a mixed open in London Monday.

China reported Monday that both imports and exports fell steeply in March, though the Hong Kong market has taken the news in stride, with the Hang Seng trading up more than 2%.

Meanwhile, UK companies are swapping finance chiefs. EasyJet said it has poached Halfords Group Chief Financial Officer Andrew Findlay to the same position at the low-cost airline, and ICAP has poached Hiscox Chief Financial Officer Stuart Bridges, also for the same role at the interdealer broker.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 7,074.44
FTSE 250: flat at 17,877.78
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 736.92
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Hang Seng: up 2.4% at 27,925.98
Nikkei 225: closed flat at 19,905.46
DJIA: closed up 0.6% at 18,057.65
S&P 500: closed up 0.5% at 2,102.06
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GBP: down at USD1.4606
EUR: up at USD1.0608

GOLD: down at USD1,204.58 per ounce
OIL (Brent): flat at USD57.89 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

09:00 Italy Industrial Output
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China had a merchandise trade surplus of USD3.10 billion in March, the Customs Office said. That was far below forecasts for a surplus of USD40.20 billion and down sharply from the USD62.62 billion surplus in February. Exports plummeted 14.6% on year - well shy of forecasts for an increase of 10.0% following the 48.3% surge in the previous month. Imports tumbled an annual 12.3% versus forecasts for a decline of 10.0% following the 20.5% plunge a month earlier.
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Members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board believe that the country's moderate economic recovery will continue at its current pace, the minutes from the board's March 16 and 17 meeting revealed. In its long-standing war with deflation, the board said inflation expectations appear to be rising - although the members cautioned that the upside was being capped by tumbling energy prices.
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FRANCE FEBRUARY CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT EUR1.8 BLN VS EUR0.2 BLN JANUARY
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The growth in the Irish construction sector accelerated moderately in March, after easing in the previous four months, survey figures from Markit Economics showed. The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 52.9 in March from 52.0 in February. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. But the rate of expansion remained much weaker than seen during 2014.
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Saudi Arabia rejected calls by its regional rival, Iran, to halt a multi-nation air campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen amid escalating tensions between Riyadh and Tehran. "How can Iran call on us to stop the fighting although the fighting in Yemen has been there for more than a year?" Saudi Foreign Minister Saudi al-Faisal said in the Saudi capital Riyadh. "We came to Yemen to help the legitimate authority and Iran is not in charge of Yemen." Saudi Arabia is leading eight Sunni fellow Arab countries in mounting a campaign of airstrikes against the Houthis, who have taken over vast areas of Yemen. Saudis have repeatedly accused Shiite Iran of aiding the Shiite Houthis, an accusation denied by both the Yemeni rebels and Tehran.
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Former secretary of state and past US first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Sunday in an online video that she is seeking the left-leaning Democratic Party's 2016 presidential nomination. Clinton, 67, is slated to travel this week to the Midwestern state of Iowa, which holds the first of the state presidential contests through which both major parties choose their presidential nominees. In a video posted to her campaign website, Clinton declares she wants to be a champion for ordinary Americans fighting to get ahead as the US economy improves.
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Cuban President Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama met face-to-face Saturday in Panama, pledging to work together to establish diplomatic relations in the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries in more than 50 years. "This is obviously an historic meeting," Obama said. "We are now in a position to move on a path toward the future."
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Jordan Spieth rewrote Masters history Sunday by winning the 79th edition of the golf tournament at Augusta with a joint record score of 270, 18-under par, triumphing by four shots from Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose. Leading by four at the start of the final round, Spieth slipped occasionally early on the front nine to allow Rose to close within three shots of the lead. But Rose, the 2013 US Open champion, could not cut the gap further and Spieth steadied himself by the turn to storm to victory, banishing the ghosts of 2014 when he lost a two-shot lead in the final round to finish tied second. The 18-under score equals the Masters record set by Tiger Woods in 1997 when he won the tournament for the first time.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BARCLAYS RESUMES AVIVA WITH 'OVERWEIGHT' - TARGET 621 PENCE
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN RESUMES AVIVA WITH 'OVERWEIGHT'
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP CUTS BHP BILLITON TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY'); REMOVES FROM 'EUROPE FOCUS LIST'
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP CUTS ANGLO AMERICAN TO 'SELL' ('NEUTRAL')
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP CUTS RIO TINTO TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY')
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TRADERS: MORGAN STANLEY RAISES HSBC TO 'EQUAL-WEIGHT' ('UNDERWEIGHT')
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TRADERS: JEFFERIES CUTS PEARSON TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('BUY')

COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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EasyJet poached Halfords Group Chief Financial Officer Andrew Findlay to the same position at the low-cost airline, with the car-parts and bicycles retailer starting a search for a replacement. Findlay will remain at Halfords until the end of October, having been CFO of the company since February 1, 2011. Prior to that he held finance roles at Marks & Spencer Group PLC, the London Stock Exchange Group PLC and Cable & Wireless. Separately, Halfords said trading in the final quarter of its financial year was in line with management expectations.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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TeleCity Group said its all-share takeover of European data centre services provider Interxion Holding NV has been cleared by the Federal Cartel Office of Germany. The takeover is still conditional upon other regulatory and anti-trust approvals, as well as shareholder approval. TeleCity continues to expect the deal to close in the second half of 2015.
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ICAP poached Hiscox Chief Financial Officer Stuart Bridges for the same role at the interdealer broker, with the specialist insurer starting a search for his successor. Bridges has been at Hiscox for 16 years, but will leave at the end of August once the company reports its half-year results in late July. ICAP's former CFO Iain Torrens had said he was stepping down last September to join TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC, but had agreed to remain in place to ensure a smooth transition.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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US paper manufacturing group International Paper Co is understood to be considering making a GBP6 billion takeover bid for Irish corrugated packaging company Smurfit Kappa Group, Sky News reported on Saturday. Sky said International Paper is working with Deutsche Bank on putting together a takeover offer for Smurfit, which was the subject of speculation last week about a possible bid either from International Paper or from Australian paper company Amcor. Sources told Sky over the weekend, however, that no formal approach has yet been made for Smurfit and a bid may yet fail to materialise.
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Landore Resources said it has received positive drilling results from its winter exploration campaign on the Junior Lake nickel-copper-platinum group elements property in Ontario, Canada. The mining exploration company said the campaign confirmed the continuity of the palladium enriched Alpha Zone over a distance of 700 metres, and Landore said the delineation of the Alpha zone "has the potential to add significant tonnage to the existing B-47 resource," it said.
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Market Tech Holdings said it has signed a GBP44 million deal to acquire a property close to its Camden Markets site and intends to use the site as a co-working office scheme. Market Tech, which owns and operates the main Camden Markets in north London, said it has acquired the Utopia Village property, near to its Camden Markets property, for GBP42 million plus GBP2 million in stamp duty, all in cash. The deal will be funded by a GBP50 million unsecured loan provided to the company by majority shareholder Citwax Investments Ltd.
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Animal health pharmaceuticals producer Eco Animal Health Group said it is likely to exceed market profit expectations for the year to end-March on sales growth of more than 20% in sterling. The company said it has continued to make "strong sales progress from its more recently licensed drug registrations and by developing newly accessed markets with existing licences."
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Carr's Group reported a 5.4% rise in pretax profit in the first half of its financial year as a strong margin increase offset a drop in revenue that was partly caused by lower flour prices, and it said trading had started well in the second half. The flour, animal feed and engineering company reported a pretax profit of GBP10.6 million for the six months to February 28, up from GBP10.1 million a year earlier, as an improvement in operating margin to 4.6% from 4.3% offset a decline in revenue to GBP208.6 million, from GBP214.7 million.
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KEFI Minerals confirmed media reports that it will sign the mining agreement for the Tulu Kapi gold project with the Ministry of Mines in the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on Monday. The mining agreement will include a 20-year mining license which fully permits the development and operation of the Tulu Kapi gold project.
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Wincanton said Chief Executive Eric Born is to leave the company at the end of July to become CEO of a business outside the supply chain sector, and it has promoted Finance Director Adrian Colman to succeed him from the start of August. Wincanton said it has started looking for a new finance director. Colman joined Wincanton in January 2013, having been finance director at London City Airport and then Psion.
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Epistem Holdings saw its shares rise early Monday after it said it expects to imminently receive approval from Indian regulators for the launch of its Genedrive Tuberculosis and antibiotic resistance molecular diagnostic kit. Epistem said it has been made aware that the Director General Of Health Services and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare departments in India are to publish an approval letter in respect of the import licence for the kit.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Activist investor Jana Partners urged Qualcomm to consider a breakup and other options to boost the giant chip maker's sagging stock price, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Journal said that Jana Partners has asked Qualcomm to consider spinning off its chip unit from its patent-licensing business, which accounts for most of the company's profit. According to the report, Jana, which has purchased a stake of more than USD2 billion, making it one of Qualcomm's largest shareholders, also called on the company to cut costs, accelerate stock buybacks and make changes to its executive-pay structure, financial reporting and board of directors.
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AngloGold Ashanti entered into second-round of talks with buyers for its Cripple Creek mine in the US, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the sale process. A sale of the Cripple Creek mine in Colorado would be one of the largest of a US gold asset since the price of the precious metal declined sharply in 2013. It could raise up to USD1 billion to help the South African group cut its debt after a plan for a rights issue failed last year. The report indicated that Newmont Mining Corp and Kinross Gold are among a group of miners conducting second-round talks with AngloGold over a deal for part or all of Cripple Creek. Iamgold Corp and Goldcorp Inc, two other Canadian companies, have also shown interest.
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Real Estate Investors
NetDimensions
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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