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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening lower on Friday after US President Donald Trump said he has tested positive for the coronavirus and as fears over the failure to reach a US stimulus agreement mounted.
In early company news, British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group announced the results of its capital increase. Ryanair reported continued depressed flying activity in September. Drugmaker AstraZeneca said its Farxiga drug was granted breakthrough therapy designation in the US. Magazine publisher Future went shopping in the US, while asset manager Liontrust Asset Management made a disposal.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 82.45 points lower at 5,797.10. The blue-chip index closed up 13.35 points, or 0.2%, at 5,879.45 on Thursday.
In a tweet overnight, Trump said that he and his wife Melania tested positive for Covid-19 and that they will now quarantine themselves. The news came after it was announced on Thursday that senior Trump aide Hope Hicks had tested positive.
The development comes a month before the US election on November 3. Trump is now expected to be in quarantine for some two weeks while facing treatment for the disease. The president is 74 years old, putting him at a higher risk of serious complications from the virus.
Still, the Associated Press quoted an unidentified White House doctor as saying Trump would continue carrying out his duties "without disruption" despite the diagnosis.
Future said it has acquired US-based digital entertainment publisher CinemaBlend for an undisclosed sum. The UK magazine publisher said the move was intended to expand its reach of 46 million online users in its TV & film and games & entertainment categories, particularly in the US.
Liontrust Asset Management said it is to sell its Asia Income investment team to Somerset Capital for a total of up to GBP2 million in cash. Completion is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2021.
"After consideration and discussions with Somerset and the Asia Income Team, the directors of the company decided that the sale to Somerset, a specialist emerging markets and Asian equities fund management business, is in the best interests of the investors in the fund, the Asia Income team and Liontrust shareholders. This review has also led to Liontrust deciding to close the European Income and Macro Thematic investment teams," the company said.
IAG said it has received 100% acceptances for the new shares to be issued under the company's EUR2.74 billion equity capital raise.
The Anglo-Spanish airline group earlier in September had said it would issue 2.98 billion shares at EUR0.92 each to strengthen its balance sheet and reduce leverage. Qatar Airways, IAG's largest shareholder with a 25% stake, had irrevocably undertaken to subscribe for its pro-rata entitlement under the capital increase. IAG on Friday said it has received acceptances in respect of all 2.98 billion shares to be issued under the fundraise.
AstraZeneca said its Farxiga drug has been granted breakthrough therapy designation in the US for patients with chronic kidney disease, with and without type-2 diabetes.
The US Food & Drug Administration assigns breakthrough therapy designation to candidates that address a significant unmet medical need and which show encouraging early clinical results.
"Following the ground-breaking DAPA-CKD results, the Breakthrough Therapy Designation is further testament to Farxiga's potential to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease. We look forward to working with the Food & Drug Administration to make Farxiga available to patients as quickly as possible," said Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of Astra's BioPharmaceuticals R&D unit.
Ryanair Holding said September traffic was down 64% to 5.1 million passengers from 14.1 million at the same time last year, as Covid-19 restrictions continued to hurt air travel. The Irish carrier said it operated around 53% of its normal September schedule with a 71% load factor.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended down 0.7% following an outage on Thursday which halted trading. Financial markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong remain closed for the Golden Week holidays.
In the US, expectations dwindled that lawmakers will have time to pass a new stimulus package before the presidential election.
Democrats pushed their latest USD2.2 trillion proposal through the House, where they hold a majority, but without any opposition support, there is no chance it will be agreed by the Republican-dominated Senate.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held a series of talks Thursday to find a way through the deadlock but when asked whether a chance still remained for an agreement, Pelosi replied: "I don't know."
Oanda Markets analyst Jeffery Halley said: "Having built hopes higher steadily over the past few sessions that the US Republicans and Democrats were edging closer to a new fiscal stimulus package, a sense of deja vu has swept markets this morning. By my reckoning, the stimulus spread was at USD1.6 trillion to USD2.2 trillion as of yesterday, far apart, but less insurmountable then previous weeks. Sadly, it appears there is no sign that either side is prepared to cross the spread, or even meet in the middle ahead of a soft Thursday deadline US time."
The pound was quoted at USD1.2860 Friday morning, lower from USD1.2889 at the London equities close Thursday.
The euro stood at USD1.1715, down from USD1.1745 at the European equities close Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY105.25, down from JPY105.58.
Brent oil was trading at USD40.08 a barrel on Friday morning, flat from USD40.13 at the London equities close Thursday. Gold was quoted at USD1,899.04 an ounce, down from USD1,910.51.
In Friday's economic calendar there is eurozone inflation at 1000 BST followed by the US jobs report for September - which includes nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate - at 1330 BST.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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