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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London were in the green early Friday, following news of early trial data showing US pharma firm Gilead Sciences drug remdesivir is producing rapid recoveries in Covid-19 patients.
The University of Chicago Medicine study recruited 125 Covid-19 patients for Gileas's two phase 3 clinical trials, all of whom were treated daily with remdesivir.
Stat News obtained a copy of a video discussion among faculty members of the University of Chicago about the studies, for which no other clinical data has been released so far.
Kathleen Mullane, the infectious disease specialist overseeing the remdesivir studies at the university, said in the video: "The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great. We've only had two patients perish."
Stat contacted Mullane, who confirmed the video footage was genuine but did not provide any further comment.
California-headquartered Gilead on Thursday released a statement which read: "What we can say at this stage is that we look forward to data from ongoing studies becoming available." Results for its trial involving severe Covid-19 cases are due in April.
In London early Friday, the large-cap FTSE 100 index was up 2.7%, or 152.89 points, at 5,781.17. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 2.7%, at 15,795.05. The AIM All-Share index was up 1.2% at 752.39.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 2.5% at 9,783.23. The Cboe 250 was up 2.3% at 13,539.92, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.5% at 8,701.18.
Oanda's Jeffrey Halley said: "Markets have understandably jumped on the first piece of good news in what seems like forever, regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. Gilead's stock was 16.5% higher in after-market trading, S&P 500 futures are up 3.0%, Asian stock markets have rallied, as have regional Asian currencies."
In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 3.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.5% in late trade.
Halley continued: "There will no doubt be cautionary announcements by various scientific bodies about the validity of a partial set of results from a tiny trial. Markets though will likely do their very best to ignore those, preferring to concentrate on the US presidential lockdown exit protocols, and of course, a potential treatment for Covid-19 symptoms. That should ensure we trade from the positive side ahead of the weekend."
Donald Trump on Thursday laid out guidelines for a gradual reopening of the US after the battering of the coronavirus pandemic, saying normal life should resume quickly in some states.
The White House outlined three "phases" under which each governor would determine the permitted size of gatherings depending on their location and levels of infection.
Trump's recommendations were a far cry from his previous calls for a sudden end to social distancing measures – as well as his earlier call for the nation to be fully open in time for Easter on April 12.
Hours earlier, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, the US epicenter of the virus, said he was extending the shutdown there until May 15 despite signs of progress.
Turning to the UK - where the lockdown has been extended for a further three weeks - mid-sized and larger businesses with a turnover of more than GBP45 million will be allowed to access funding through a new UK government scheme from Monday, according to the British Business Bank.
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said companies can apply for the loans from lenders accredited by the banking group, through the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Bosses with sales between GBP45 million and GBP250 million can apply for the short-term loans and financial support of up to GBP25 million if they have been forced to shut down operations or been impacted by the virus shutdown.
Larger businesses with sales of more than GBP250 million can also take the support.
However, if they access CLBILS they will be unable to use the Bank of England's Covid Corporate Financing Facility, from which both easyJet and Greggs have borrowed.
The badly hit travel and tourism industry responded positively to the news, with blue chippers Carnival, IAG, easyJet and Intercontinental Hotels sitting near the top of the FTSE 100.
Carnival was 5.9% higher, IAG 7.2%, easyJet 7.4% and Intercontinental Hotels 8.7%.
Cineworld - which was forced to shut of all its cinemas - was 17% higher, sitting atop the midcaps. Budget airline Wizz Air was 7.1% higher.
Elsewhere on the LSE, gambling firm Flutter Entertainment was 7.2% higher as group revenue rose 16% year on year in the three months to March 31, before the Covid-19 lockdowns, rising to GBP547 million versus GBP478 million.
Sports revenue was up 13% to GBP407 million, and Gaming revenue was 25% higher at GBP140 million.
Flutter Chief Executive Peter Jackson said: "The group performed very well in the period prior to the disruption to sporting events in mid-March. We delivered strong customer growth across each of our brands and benefited from favourable sports results across our sportsbooks.
"Following the widespread cancellation of sporting events, group revenues have been more resilient than we initially expected, helped by the continuation of horse racing in Australia and the US. Gaming continues to perform well across the group."
Rio Tinto was 4.7% higher on a "robust" production performance in the first quarter, with iron ore output up on a year ago.
For the first three months of 2020, Pilbara iron ore production rose 2% on a year before to 77.8 million tonnes, with shipments up 5% at 72.9 million. This was driven by a "strong recovery" across the network in March following tropical cyclone Damien in February, which hit Western Australia.
Bauxite production was up 8% at 13.8 million tonnes following the successful ramp-up of Amrun in Queensland, Australia in 2019. Third party shipments of 9.5 million tonnes in the quarter were 7% higher than that of a year ago.
However, aluminium production fell 2% to 783,000 tonnes and mined copper was down 8% at 133,000 tonnes in the quarter. Titanium dioxide slag output was down 1% to 293,000 tonnes, while the production of pellets and concentrate at the Iron Ore Co of Canada rose 3% to 2.6 million tonnes.
For 2020, Rio Tinto now expects capital expenditure to be around USD5 billion to USD6 billion, down from previous guidance of USD7 billion, due to Covid-19 restraints. Capital expenditure originally planned for 2020 could, though, flow into 2021 and 2022.
The miner largely held its production guidance for the year, though copper was nudged down to between 475,000 tonnes to 520,000 tonnes, from a range of 530,000 tonnes to 570,000 tonnes previously. Titanium dioxide slag is now guided to be at the lower end of the firm's previous 1.2 million to 1.4 million tonne range.
Fellow miners Antofagasta, Anglo American and BHP were 4.9%, 6.4% and 4.1% higher, respectively.
In the London midcaps, asset manager Brewin Dolphin was 8.7% higher.
March 31 funds under management were GBP41.1 billion, down from GBP48.5 billion three months earlier and GBP45.0 billion six months prior.
Brewin saw GBP400 million in net inflows, but market movements took GBP7.5 billion off total funds in the company's second quarter.
Brewin Chief Executive David Nicol said he was "encouraged" by the company's performance in the period, noting the 14.6% decrease in funds outperformed the MSCI WMA Private Investor Balanced Index - down 15.2% - and the FTSE 100 Index - down 24.8%.
"Not surprisingly, the rapid spread of Covid-19 and the unprecedented reaction of the global markets, has negatively impacted the value of our clients' funds and consequently our second quarter total income. We have a strong balance sheet with good cash generation, and a robust regulatory capital position, which will support us as markets recover and enable us to service the growing demand for financial advice in the UK and Ireland," Nicol added.
Publisher Future PLC added 7.2%. Its acquisition of TI Media will complete shortly, following the announcement by the UK competition watchdog that it has accepted Future's undertakings and will end its investigation of the merger.
Future had announced the GBP140 million purchase of fellow magazine publisher TI Media last October.
The UK Competition & Markets Authority, however, raised concerns in January but later said it would pass the acquisition if Future agreed to sell three competing titles.
In late March, Future confirmed it has agreed to sell WorldSoccer, Amateur Photographer, and Trustedreviews.com. All are in an advanced stage of talks with potential buyers. After which, the CMA said those remedies meant the regulator now believes there are reasonable grounds to approve the acquisition.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2443 early Friday, soft against USD1.2466 at the London equities close on Thursday.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 3.5% and up 3.4% respectively early Friday.
The euro traded at USD1.0832 early Friday, soft against USD1.0868 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY107.78 versus JPY107.31.
China's economy contracted for the first time in decades last quarter as drastic measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic brought activity to a standstill, official data showed Friday.
Gross domestic product shrank 6.8% in the January-March quarter from the same period a year earlier, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
It was the first negative growth reported by the world's second-largest economy since Beijing began logging quarterly data in the early 1990s.
The figure marks a sharp drop from China's six percent expansion in the fourth quarter of last year, but was slightly better than the 8.2% contraction forecast by economists in an AFP poll.
And analysts have warned of tougher times ahead, with weaker external demand for Chinese goods to weigh on growth as key export markets are battered by Covid-19.
Gold was quoted at USD1,694.90 an ounce early Friday, lower than USD1,728.30 on Thursday.
Brent oil was trading at USD27.76 a barrel early Friday, up on USD27.78 late Thursday.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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