Johnson Matthey Share News (JMAT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended sharply higher on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 snapping a three-day losing streak, as investor appetite for equities returned.The pound slipped on Brexit uncertainty as Prime Minister Theresa May travelled to Brussels in a bid to finalise a deal.The FTSE 100 index closed up 1.5%, or 102.31 points, at 7,050.23. The FTSE 250 ended up 1.2%, or 218.58 points, at 18,584.94, and the AIM All-Share closed up 0.3%, or 3.08 points, at 930.39.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 1.5% at 11,973.60, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.9% at 16,677.48, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.4% at 11,357.38.In Paris, the CAC 40 ended up 1.1%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 1.7%. "European stock markets have gained ground today even though the tension between the Italian government and the EU has risen. Brexit is still doing the rounds in the news, but traders are unlikely to take any notice until there are new developments," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets.On the London Stock Exchange, Johnson Mathhey ended as the best blue chip performer, up 12% after the speciality chemicals company benefitted from strong demand for cleaner cars and that it expects its annual operating performance to be at the upper end of the guidance.Johnson Matthey, best known for making devices which clean up vehicle exhaust emissions, said its core Clean Air division led to a "good" first half, with heavy duty catalysts in particular doing well. Johnson Matthey's Clear Air operations make up over half of group sales, and the division's sales rose 10% to GBP1.31 billion in the six months to September. Excluding currency movements, the figure was up 11%.Within this, total sales of heavy duty vehicle diesel catalysts rose 13%, or 14% constant currency, to GBP462 million. Light duty vehicle catalyst sales climbed 9%, or 10% constant currency, to GBP831 million.Johnson Matthey said heavy duty catalyst sales were in particular driven by performance in Europe and the Americas, which both were "significantly" ahead of market production. NMC Health closed up 7.9% after JPMorgan upgraded the UAE-focused healthcare provider to Overweight from Neutral. At the other end of the large cap index, Kingfisher ended as the worst performer down 3.1% after the DIY retailer said it will exit Russian, Spanish and Portuguese markets, as its operations in France suffered ongoing weakness and lost market share to rival Leroy Merlin. For the three months to October 31, total group sales trickled up 0.2% to GBP3.05 billion, but were up 1.4% at constant currency. Third quarter like-for-like sales fell by 7.3%.France saw sales down 3.9%, 3.4% on a like-for-like basis, to GBP1.11 billion. Castorama sales declined by 8.5%, while sales at its Brico Depot chain were up 1.5%. In the FTSE 250, Paragon Banking Group ended as the best performer, up 8.2% after the lender reported an annual rise in profit of more than a quarter in a "strong" year, on a rise in mortgage lending and hiked its dividend.In the financial year to September 30, pretax profit increased 25% to GBP181.5 million from GBP144.8 million the year before. The company declared a total dividend of 19.4 pence per share, a 24% hike on the 15.7p paid out last year.Wizz Air closed up 6.2% after UBS raised the central and eastern Europe-focused airline to Buy from Neutral saying it has the ability to take market share from its competitors and its low share price offers an attractive entry point for investors.At the other end of the midcap index, Indivior ended the worst performer, down 11% after the drugmaker lost a US court ruling in a case against Indian rival Dr Reddy's Laboratories.The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated an injunction which previously prevented Dr Reddy's from selling offering to sell, or import its generic buprenorphine/naloxone sublingual film product. Dr Reddy's will now look to launch a generic product in the US, encroaching on Indivior's market share. If the generic product does enter the market, Indivior expects a "rapid and material loss" of market share for its Suboxone sublingual film. Compounding its woes, RBC cut the stock to Sector Perform from Outperform.The pound was lower quoted at USD1.2788 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.2813 at the close Tuesday, as UK Prime Minister Theresa May heads to Brussels to meet European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, amid speculation she will seek last-minute concessions on the UK's deal for leaving the EU.Downing Street confirmed that May had discussed with her cabinet the possibility of "technological solutions" for keeping an open Irish border after Brexit.It said the plan, which was previously floated as a way of avoiding a "hard" border with physical infrastructure, would be part of alternative arrangements that could be used instead of the EU's so-called "backstop" to guarantee an open border.The Brexit deal includes a temporary, last-resort backstop with separate provisions for Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom. May insists the backstop is unlikely to be needed because she plans to agree a permanent solution for the border during the 21-month transition after Britain leaves the EU in March.May's new focus on technological solutions is seen as an attempt to appease eurosceptics in her Conservative party, who are threatening to vote against the Brexit deal in parliament, partly because they fear it could lead to an indefinite backstop."Although May now looks safe in her job for the time being, the PM is caught between Conservative Party MPs who want her to push for further concessions, and the EU that has showed little patience for further compromise," said Capital Economics. The euro was firm at USD1.1408 at the European equities close, against USD1.1396 late Tuesday, despite Brussels rejecting Italy's 2019 budget for contravening European Union fiscal rules and warned that the indebted nation could face legal action. "It is with regret that today we confirm our assessment that Italy's draft budget plan is in particularly serious non-compliance," Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said.Based on the commission's analysis, he added, a sanctions process known as an excessive deficit procedure is "warranted" against Italy for failing to reduce its public debt, which stands at more than 130% of gross domestic product.Rome's spending plans runs "a risk of the country sleepwalking into instability," Dombrovskis added."Additional comments by the League's Matteo Salvini fleshed out the reiteration of his well-flagged position. He is open to dialogue on investments but not on the Budget deficit or pension reform. This leaves fewer doubts that Wednesday's relief rally in Italy is best viewed as a pause. The Commission has after all, in its own byzantine way, begun the process that will crystalize the political stand-off in a way that the market is unlikely to react in sanguine fashion to," said City Index analyst Ken Odeluga.Italy's flagship FTSE MiB index closed up up 1.4%. Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close on the last full trading day before markets close for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.Financial markets in the US will reopen on Friday but will close at 1300 EST. The DJIA was up 0.7%, the S&P 500 index up 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.6%.Bargain hunting was contributing to gains on Wall Street as investors look to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the sell-off on Monday and Tuesday.On the economic front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed a much steeper than expected drop in new orders for US durable goods in the month of October. The sharp decline largely illustrated a substantial decrease in orders for transportation equipment.The Commerce Department said durable goods orders plunged by 4.4% in October following a revised 0.1% dip in September. Economists had expected orders to slump by 2.5% compared to the 0.7% increase that had been reported for the previous month.In addition, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing existing home sales in the US rebounded by more than anticipated in the month October.NAR said existing home sales surged up by 1.4% to an annual rate of 5.22 million in October after plunging by 3.4% to a rate of 5.15 million in September. Economists had expected existing home sales to jump by 1.0%.Brent oil was higher quoted at USD64.10 a barrel at the London equities close from USD63.33 at the close Tuesday.Gold was up quoted at USD1,227.00 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,223.60 late Tuesday.The economic events calendar on Thursday has South Africa Reserve Bank's interest rate decision at 1300 GMT and eurozone consumer confidence data at 1500 GMT. The UK corporate calendar on Thursday has half year results from water company Severn Trent, mother and baby products retailer Mothercare and online trading company CMC Markets. There are also trading statements from British Gas parent company Centrica and flow control equipment maker Rotork.