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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher across the board on Thursday morning, the first trading day of 2020, following a positive close in Asia overnight and a small but mostly positive round of UK company news.
The FTSE 100 index was up 66.62 points, or 0.9%, at 7,609.06 early Thursday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was 100.26 points higher, or 0.5%, at 21,983.68, and the AIM All-Share index was up 0.1% at 959.30.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.7% at 12,890.92. The Cboe 250 was 0.4% higher at 19,899.87, and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.1% at 12,248.96.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.8%, and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was 0.3% higher.
All major markets were closed on Wednesday for New Year's Day. All reopen Thursday, other than Tokyo, which remains closed the rest of the week.
In China on Thursday, the Shanghai Composite closed up 1.2% on Thursday, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended up 1.1%.
China's central bank announced Wednesday it was cutting the reserve requirements for banks, freeing up about USD114 billion to boost lending and spur the slowing economy.
The People's Bank of China will cut the reserve requirement ratio on January 6 by 50 basis points, it said in a statement, reducing the amount of cash banks must hold.
Lowering the ratio frees up more money for banks to lend to small businesses. The central bank cut the requirement three times in 2019 to bolster the Chinese economy, which grew at the slowest rate in three decades last year.
On the London Stock Exchange, IP Group surged to the top of the FTSE 250 index, up 3.7%, after saying that its portfolio company Oxford Nanopore Technologies has raised GBP29.3 million of new capital.
IP Group's stake in Oxford Nanopore will be 16% upon completion of the fundraising, it said, valued at around GBP264 million.
Oxford Nanopore noted that funds were raised from both new investors and existing shareholders from the US, Europe and Asia Pacific.
"We're delighted to see another successful fundraising for Oxford Nanopore which rounds off an impressive year of commercial success and technical validation of nanopore sequencing," said IP Group Chief Executive Alan Aubrey.
On the other side of the mid-cap index was Tullow Oil, sinking 12% in early trade. The company said it has discovered oil on the Kanuku licence off the coast of Guyana, South America, but less than expected.
Early results from drilling at the Carapa-1 well suggest the finding of oil in Upper Cretaceous sandstones. Results show the four metres of net oil pay has a sulphur content of less than 1%.
Chief Operating Officer Mark MacFarlane said: "While net pay and reservoir development at this location are below our pre-drill estimates, we are encouraged to find good quality oil which proves the extension of the prolific Cretaceous play into our acreage."
He added: "We will now integrate the results of the three exploration wells drilled in these adjacent licences into our Guyana and Suriname geological and geophysical models before deciding the future work programme."
Away from mid-caps, Eqtec was up 37% after North Fork Community Power finalised and signed the legal documentation that allows the financial close of the proposed construction and operation of a 2 megawatts biomass plant at the North Fork project, US.
Back in June, Eqtec said it will buy a 20% interest in North Fork Community Power on financial close of the project. On Thursday, the company said this acquisition has now been completed.
Under the contract, Eqtec said it will invoice to North Fork Community Power a total of EUR2.2 million for the sale of equipment and the supply of engineering and design services.
On commissioning - expected before the end of the first quarter of 2021 - the project is estimated to have a valuation of USD20 million, Eqtec said, and be capable of generating annual revenue of USD4 million.
Restaurant operator Tasty jumped by 28% in early trade after saying that it has sold its dim t More London site for GBP2 million. The move is a part of the company's strategy of reducing exposure where it is experiencing increasing property and labour costs.
Tasty said it intends to use the proceeds from the sale to pay off its remaining bank debt, to fund the working capital and selected restaurant refurbishment plans.
Turning to operations, Tasty said fourth-quarter sales to-date remain in line with expectations, and it remains confident that current market forecasts for 2019 will be achieved.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3212 early Thursday, firm on USD1.3200 at the London equities close on Tuesday.
In other currencies, the euro was trading at USD1.1207 early Thursday, lower than USD1.1230 late Tuesday. Against the yen, the dollar was at JPY108.81, up slightly from JPY108.55.
In commodities, gold was quoted at USD1,519.85 early Thursday, down from USD1,521.04 at the London equities close on Tuesday.
Brent oil was trading at USD66.42 early Thursday, firm on USD65.94 at the London equities close on Tuesday.
The economic events calendar on Thursday has eurozone manufacturing PMI at 0900 GMT and UK manufacturing PMI at 0930 GMT. In the afternoon, there is US manufacturing PMI at 1445 GMT.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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