HSTG.L Share News (HSTG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended broadly higher on Thursday with the FTSE 100 moving off fresh seven-month lows amid signs of renewed market confidence.The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.6%, or 41.12 points at 7,004.10. The large cap index fell to an intraday low of 6,885.99 in early trade - its lowest level in seven months. The FTSE 250 ended up 0.7%, or 125.05 points, at 18,531.53, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.4%, or 3.70 points, at 973.16.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.5% at 11,869.52, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.6% at 16,772.84, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.5% at 11,510.45."After falling sharply on the open the FTSE spent the rest of the session grinding higher before dipping in and out of positive territory. On the whole, global stocks were on the rise in an attempted recovery from Wednesday's bloodbath; however, the FTSE was less convinced as investors digested a mixed bag of corporate updates," said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index.On the London Stock Exchange, International Consolidated Airlines closed up 3.8% after the British Airways parent approved an interim dividend of EUR0.145 per share for its current financial year.This compares to a EUR0.125 dividend it paid out the same time last year, having not made an interim payout in 2016.Earlier Thursday, IAG said it believes additional personal data may have been stolen in a hack on British Airways during the cyber attack between April 21 and July 28.Evraz closed up 3.0% after the Russian steelmaker said it expects improvements in the final quarter of 2018 as it finalises maintenance and repairs at its plants in Russia.Crude steel output fell by 10% in the three months to the end of September to 3.1 million tonnes from 3.5 million tonnes produced in the second quarter of 2018. The result was hurt by lower pig iron production, which declined 11% quarter-on-quarter to 2.4 million tonnes from 2.7 million tonnes.Crude steel output is expected to be flat in the final quarter of 2018 due to planned plant maintenance, while production of pig iron is anticipated to grow by between 3% and 5% following a completion of scheduled repairs at Evraz's consolidated West-Siberian metallurgical plant.Lloyds Banking Group closed up 1.9% after the lender reported a drop in third quarter profit, but a "strong and sustainable" first nine months are expected to help it hit its improved financial targets in the full year.For the nine months to September end, Lloyds pretax profit increased 9.6% to GBP4.93 billion from GBP4.50 billion.Lloyds attributed the year-to-date rise to an 11% reduction in below the line charges and a lower effective tax rate of 26%.In the same period, the bank's net income increased 2.3% to GBP13.42 billion from GBP13.12 billion the previous year. Total income increased 1.9% to GBP14.15 billion from GBP13.89 billion.The net income rise was mainly due to the increase in net interest income, which was up 4.6% in the first nine months of the year to GBP9.54 billion from GBP9.12 billion.The bank's net interest income increased on an improved net interest margin and an increase in average interest-earning banking assets - which grew slightly to GBP435.90 billion. Lloyds banking net interest margin in the first nine months rose to 2.93% from 2.85%.Languishing the bottom of the large cap index, WPP closed down 14% - shedding GBP1.83 billion of its total market value in the process after the advertising group cut its outlook for sales and profit margin this year, citing a slowdown in client spending and structural changes in the industry.BT Group closed down 3.7% as the telecommunications firm named payment processor Worldpay's Co-Chief Executive Officer Philip Jansen as its own new CEO. Jansen will be replacing the outgoing Gavin Patterson, who will leave in January. At the end of September, Worldpay announced that Jansen will step down at the end of 2018, and Worldpay will move to a single CEO structure led by Executive Chairman & Co-CEO Charles Drucker.In the FTSE 250, Polypipe closed up 12% after the plastic piping manufacturer said it has acquired UK-based plastic and metal products manufacturer Manthorpe Building Products for GBP52 million on a cash and debt free. The acquisition will be funded from existing cash resources as well as drawdown from existing debt facilities, and is expected to be earnings accretive in the first year of ownership. At the other end of the midcaps, Hastings ended comfortably the worst performer, down 14% after the insurer warned its loss ratio in 2018 will be at the "lower" end of its guided range.Hastings expects its loss ratio for the year ending December to be at the "lower" end of its target range of 75% to 79%, despite posting a 73.8% ratio at the half-year stage, better than the target.Hastings attributed its increasing loss ratio to claims inflation continuing to exceed to premiums inflation. The insurer expects its loss ratio will trend towards the middle of its target in 2019.In an effort to combat its loss ratio creeping upward towards 79%, Hastings said it will maintain its "disciplined" pricing strategy in a "competitive market" for the rest of the year.The pound was down quoted at USD1.2823 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.2905 at the close Wednesday.Sterling slipped to an intraday low of USD1.2809 in afternoon trade versus the greenback - its lowest since early September - as uncertainty surrounding Brexit continues.The risk of a no-deal Brexit will be increased if Brussels engages in a "deliberately intransigent" approach to talks, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said.Raab also warned French authorities in Calais could adopt a "go-slow" approach which would cause chaos for trade across the English Channel.However, the European Commission rejected Raab's criticisms, insisting it was working to reach a deal.The Brexit secretary told MPs in the Commons: "There certainly is a risk of no deal, especially if the EU engage in a deliberately intransigent approach."Even though UK Prime Minister Theresa May claims a deal on the UK's exit from the EU is 95% done, the Irish border still remains a major stumbling block.In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 1.6%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended 1.0% higher. The euro stood at USD1.1370 at the European equities close, against USD1.1397 late Wednesday, as the European Central Bank left its benchmark refinancing rate on hold at a record low of zero.The single currency fell to an intraday low of USD1.1364 in afternoon trade after President Mario Draghi said the eurozone still needs significant monetary stimulus after he warned growth has lost momentum in the face of a mounting number of global economic uncertainties.Speaking at a press conference, Draghi said members of the Frankfurt-based ECB's 25-strong governing council members had acknowledged at their meeting this week that the eurozone faced "weaker momentum," but not a downturn.The currency bloc had been hit by "a bunch of uncertainties", Draghi said, resulting from trade tensions, volatile financial markets along with the fraught Brexit talks and a stand-off between Brussels and Rome over Italy's budget.The showdown between Rome and Brussels over Italy's budget plans has underlined market worries about the eurozone's economic outlook and the risk of another euro debt crisis.But Draghi also expressed confidence an agreement could be found to end the stand-off between Italy and Brussels over Rome's plans to boost its budget deficit, which EU officials said breached the bloc's fiscal rules."The euro has been selling off sharply in the afternoon, with the latest ECB meeting doing little to appease fears over the stand-off between the EU and Italy. Draghi gave precious few updates for monetary policy, with markets instead left to their own devices with the bank essentially telling us to come back in December when they have new forecasts to base their decisions upon," said IG Group's Josh Mahony. Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, rebounding following the sell-off seen in the previous session.The DJIA was 1.3% higher, the S&P 500 index up 1.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 2.6%.In US corporate news, social media company Twitter reported a turnaround to profit in the third quarter on strong revenue growth.Twitter's third-quarter net income was USD789.18 million, or USD1.02 per share, compared to net loss of USD21.10 million, or USD0.03 per share, in the year-ago period.On an adjusted basis, earnings for the quarter were USD162.72 million, or USD0.21 per share, compared to USD77.85 million, or USD0.10 per share last year.On average, analysts had expected earnings of USD0.14 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.Revenues for the quarter increased 29% to USD758.11 million from USD589.63 million last year and beat analysts' consensus estimate of USD702.57 million.Twitter shares were up 17% in New York. Still to come in the US earnings calendar, Google parent Alphabet, e-commerce company Amazon and chipmaker Intel report after the close. On the US economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected increase in durable goods orders in the month of September.The report said durable goods orders climbed by 0.8% in September after surging up by 4.6% in August. Economists had expected orders to drop by 0.9%.The unexpected increase in durable goods orders was largely due to a jump in orders for transportation equipment, which shot up by 1.9% in September after spiking by 13.2% in August.Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders inched up by just 0.1% in September after rising by 0.3% in August. Economists had expected a 0.3% increase.Brent oil was quoted at USD76.46 a barrel at the equities close from USD76.97 at the same time the prior day. Gold was quoted at USD1,230.44 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,229.27 late Wednesday.The economic events calendar on Friday has French producer prices at 0745 BST and US third quarter GDP figures at 1330 BST.The UK corporate calendar on Friday has third quarter results from state-backed lender Royal Bank of Scotland Group and British Airways parent company IAG. Swiss mining group Glencore reports third quarter production results.