Kingfisher Share News (KGF)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks ended higher on Thursday as US China trade worries faded and the Brexit negotiations taking place in Salzburg failed to put a dampener on trading. "Stocks are higher in Europe as bullish sentiment has resumed now that traders have gotten over the latest escalation in the US-China trade spat. The dust has settled in the wake of tariffs being announced, and investors are happy to swoop in and snap up stocks. The absence of negative news has promoted buying," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.The FTSE 100 index ended the day higher, up 0.5%, or 36.20 points at 7,367.32. The FTSE 250 ended up 0.3%, or 50.81 points, at 20,551.26, and the AIM All-Share closed up 0.1%, or 1.25 points, at 1,093.96.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.5% at 12,496.26, the Cboe 250 closed 0.2% higher at 18,680.83, and the Cboe Small Companies ended 0.2% lower at 12,190.99.Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "Brexit concerns are not registering either today, despite the complete defeat of the prime minister's Chequers plan at the Salzburg summit. May faces two choices - either capitulate further to the EU, or come back home declaring that no deal really is better than a bad one." EU leaders turned their attention to Brexit on the second day of an informal meeting in the Austrian city of Salzburg, after British Prime Minister Theresa May briefed them on her view of negotiations.The EU and Britain are each asking the other side to show flexibility as the deadline draws closer to reach a deal on the terms of Britain's departure from the bloc.European Council President Donald Tusk said the EU will only hold a dedicated Brexit summit on November 17-18 if solutions are on the table in October for the Irish border issue and the future trade relationship."Without clear and precise solutions for [the] Irish question and for the whole context for our economic future relations it would be difficult even to imagine a positive process after October," Tusk said after Brexit discussions.EU leaders are "absolutely clear that what we need today is a common determination on both sides to end our negotiations in October," Tusk said, adding that he would then convene a November summit to "formalize this agreement."UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK will make new proposals for maintaining an open Irish border after rejecting the EU's post-Brexit "backstop" plan."We both agree there can be no withdrawal agreement without a legally operative backstop," May told reporters."But that backstop cannot divide the UK into two customs territories, and we will be bringing forward our own proposals shortly," she said.Earlier in the day, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Britain to submit fresh proposals.Both sides want to find a "backstop" solution that would preserve freedom of goods, services, workers, and capital across the Irish border, no matter what the final deal on Brexit will be. But agreement has been elusive."We need a UK proposal precisely preserving this backstop in the framework of [Britain's] withdrawal agreement," Macron said.German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with her counterpart, saying the EU will not budge on the bloc's market-access rules in its Brexit talks with Britain."We agreed today that there can be no compromise regarding the single [EU] market," Merkel told a press conference at the end of an informal EU summit.While Merkel stressed that Britain will not be able to take part in the EU market after exiting the bloc, she added that "it is possible to come up with very creative ways" to reach practicable and close trade relations with Britain.The pound was quoted at USD1.3265 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.3162 at the same time on Thursday, driven by the stronger-than-expected retail sales. In the UK, retail sales grew in August, thanks to warm weather and real wage growth, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed.Retail sales volume, including auto fuel, gained 0.3% month-on-month in August, slower than the 0.9% increase seen in July and in contrast to the expected fall of 0.2%. This was the second consecutive rise in sales volume.Sales excluding auto fuel, also advanced 0.3% after rising 1.1% a month ago, while economists had forecast a 0.2% fall.On a yearly basis, retail sales volume growth slowed to 3.3% from 3.8% in July. Nonetheless, the pace of increase exceeded the expected 2.3%.Similarly, excluding auto fuel, retail sales climbed 3.5% after rising 4% in the previous month. Economists had forecast a 2.4% rise.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, as Wall Street traders continue to shrug off concerns about the escalating trade dispute between the US and China. The DJIA was up 0.9%, the S&P 500 index up 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.8%.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 was 1.1% higher, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.9%. On the London Stock Exchange, Aston Martin Lagonda set a price range to its proposed initial public offering, which implied a market capitalisation of up to GBP5.07 billion after admission.The luxury car maker said that its initial public offering price range is between GBP17.50 and GBP22.50 per share, while the expected size of the offering is of 56.8 million shares, or 25% of the company.The company expects to confirm the final pricing of the offer on October 3, when dealings will start on the London Stock Exchange. Admission of the shares to trading is expected on October 8.FTSE 100 risers included Rio Tinto, which closed up 2.5% on plans to return the company's coal disposal proceeds to shareholders through a USD3.2 billion share buyback programme.The programme will combine an off-market buyback tender targeting up to 41.2 million shares, of around USD1.9 billion, and on-market purchases.Details of the on-market purchases will be set out following the completion of the off-market buyback, which is expected on November 12.The disposal proceeds come from the completed sales of Hail Creek, Valeria and Kestrel, all located in Australia.Johnnie Walker whisky maker Diageo ended the day 1.6% higher after it made a good start to the financial year and said that annual sales were estimated to be in line with the board's forecast of mid-single digit growth.In his annual general meeting statement, Chief Executive Ivan Menezes said that the current year to June 2019 "started well and performance is in line with our expectations".However, due to some increased market foreign exchange volatility, the company is forecasting a negative impact on net sales of GBP175 million and on operating profit of GBP45 million.In 2018 financial year, net sales totaled GBP12.16 billion and operating profit came in at GBP3.69 billion.At the other end of the FTSE 100, Kingfisher closed down 1.7%. The home improvement and garden centres retailer recovered from closing down 6.3% on Wednesday, as a result of a profit drop.For the six months to July 31, Kingfisher posted pretax profit down 30% to GBP281 million from GBP402 million a year ago.British American Tobacco closed down 1.1% as Chief Executive Nicandro Durante confirmed he will retire in 2019, following eight years at the helm of the FTSE 100-listed firm. Durante, who has been with BAT for nearly 37 years, will retire on April 1, 2019. The tobacco giant said it has been considering successors "for some time" and, having reviewed a list of internal and external prospects, has identified a "lead candidate".In the FTSE 250, AVEVA Group was a big riser, closing up 4.8%, after Barclays upgraded the industrial software firm to an Overweight rating from Equal Weight, and also raised the target price to 3,150 pence from 2,800p.Weir Group finished up 3.4% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the engineering company to an Overweight rating from Equal-Weight, but lowered its price target to 2,120 pence from 2,240p.IG Group was lagging at the bottom of the FTSE 250, down 9.8%.The online trading platform provider said revenue in the three months to the end of August declined by 5% to GBP128.9 million on weak performance in the UK and Europe, the Middle East & Africa regions, where revenue fell by 8% and 12%, respectively.The result was hit by a reduction in client numbers. In the UK, the number of clients fell by 13% to 34,000, while the Europe, the Middle East & Africa unit saw a 10% decrease in client numbers to 27,200.The euro stood at USD1.1760 at the European equities close, against USD1.1685 the prior day.Euro area consumer confidence weakened sharply in September to its lowest level in 15 months, initial estimates from the European Commission showed.The flash consumer confidence index dropped to negative 2.9 from negative 1.9 in August. Economists had forecast a score of negative 2.The latest reading was the lowest since May 2017, when the score was negative 3.3.The consumer confidence measure for the EU also dropped in September, down to negative 2.8 from August's negative 1.8.The Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development downgraded its global growth projections for both 2018 and 2019.According to Interim Economic Outlook the global economy will grow 3.7% each this year and next. In May, the OECD had projected 3.8% expansion for 2018 and 3.9% for 2019.The US will expand 2.9% in 2018 and 2.7% in 2019, the agency said. China's growth is seen at 6.7% this year and 6.4% in 2019.A report released by the US Labor Department unexpectedly showed first-time claims for US unemployment benefits dipped to their lowest level in nearly fifty years in the week ended September 15th.The Labor Department said jobless claims edged down to 201,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 204,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 210,000.With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 197,000 in November of 1969.Brent oil was quoted at USD78.86 a barrel at the equities close from USD79.27 at the same time the prior day. Gold was quoted at USD1,204.01 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,203.30 on Thursday.The economic calendar on Friday has France GDP at 0845 BST, then France, Germany and Eurozone flash PMI at 0915 BST, 0930 BST and 1000 BST, respectively. US Flash Manufacturing PMI is at 0945 BST and Japan CPI at 0830 BST. The UK corporate calendar has full year results from Smiths Group and half year results from SIG, M&C Saatchi and Triple Point Social Housing.