Legal & General Share News (LGEN)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Share are strongly higher in London and Europe on Monday, after eurozone leaders announced just prior to the market open an agreement with Greece over its debt.

The new bailout for Greece will bring about "serious reforms," EU President Donald Tusk wrote on Twitter. "EuroSummit has unanimously reached agreement. All ready to go for ESM programme for Greece with serious reforms and financial support," he wrote, referring to the eurozone's bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism.

At a subsequent press conference, Tusk joked the leaders had reached an "agreekment".

Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said the Greek parliament will legislate some reform measures very quickly

The FTSE 100 is up 0.7%, while the CAC 40 in Paris is up 1.7% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt is up 1.4%.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.7% at 6,719.04
FTSE 250: up 0.6% at 17,596.56
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 750.36
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Hang Seng: up 1.0% at 25,139.68
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.6% at 20,089.77
DJIA: closed up 1.2% at 17,760.41
S&P 500: closed up 1.2% at 2,076.62
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GBP: up at USD1.5543
EUR: up at USD1.1162

GOLD: down at USD1,161.12 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD57.59 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

EU Eurogroup meeting
09:30 UK BOE Credit Conditions Survey
19:00 US Monthly Budget Statement
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The US central bank is likely to begin tightening its benchmark interest rate in 2015 after seven years of unprecedented slack monetary policy, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said Friday. "Based on my outlook, I expect that it will be appropriate at some point later this year to take the first step to raise the Federal Funds rate and thus begin normalizing monetary policy," Yellen said, according to the text of a speech she gave in Cleveland, Ohio. "But I want to emphasize that the course of the economy and inflation remains highly uncertain, and unanticipated developments could delay or accelerate this first step."
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Chinese exports increased at a faster-than-expected pace in June, while imports fell less-than-expected, official data showed. Exports rose 2.8% year-over-year in June, exceeding economists' expectations for 1.0% growth. Meanwhile, imports slid 6.1% in June from the previous year, much slower than the 15.5% sharp decline expected by economists. The trade surplus of the country came in at USD46.54 billion in June, smaller than the USD56.7 billion surplus expected by economists. In May, the surplus was at USD59.49 billion.
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Iran and six major powers attempted to reach a breakthrough on a long-sought nuclear deal Sunday night, but a German source cautioned that there would be no agreement unless Tehran took steps to overcome the few remaining differences. As night fell over Vienna, intensive consultations among foreign ministers and diplomats continued on the deal that aims to curb Iran's nuclear programme and prevent the development of atomic weapons. "It could all still fail, but we have indeed come near to our goal," a source close to German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said about the talks between Iran and the group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany. "If Tehran is ready to take the last steps, it could go quickly now," the source said,.
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Iraqi troops, backed by Shiite paramilitaries, started Sunday a major military operation to regain the key western city of Fallujah from the Islamic State extremist militia, military said. "The zero hour for liberating Fallujah from Daesh has started with the participation of 10,000 fighters, an officer at the Anbar command said, using the Arabic acronymn for Islamic State. Fallujah is a main city of the western Anbar province, where Islamic State has consoldiated its presence in recent months.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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UBS RAISES IAG TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL') - PRICE TARGET 700 (580) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Egypt's Commercial International Bank and Legal & General Group are selling their stakes in Commercial International Life Insurance Company to French insurance and asset management company AXA Group. In a statement dated Sunday, CIB and Legal & General said their stakes in CIL, which was originally established in 1998 and operates in the Egyptian life insurance industry, will be sold for EGP763 million. Legal & General owns 55% of CIL, with CIB owning the remainder.
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Barclays's new chairman has told executives working on the group's effort to separate its retail bank from its investment bank to either acquire an entity with a banking licence or apply for a new one, according to a Financial Times report on Sunday. The report said that John McFarlane, who is acting in an executive capacity after the banking group sacked Antony Jenkins as chief executive last week, is planning for new rules that require the establishment of a ringfence by 2019. According to the FT, Barclays is the only bank that requires an extra licence for its ringfenced unit.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group is winding down its Greek operation and is looking to sell its USD5 billion shipping loans portfolio, Reuters reported on Saturday. Citing finance sources familiar with the plans, Reuters said the move was part of the UK state-backed bank's efforts to shrink its international business.
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Tens of thousands of businesses seeking compensation in relation to BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have filed claims that are yet to be fully processed, according to a Financial Times report. Should the past pattern of payments continue, the report said the cost of the claims to BP will be at least USD2 billion more that it has set aside. Earlier in July, BP reached an USD18.7 billion deal to settle all US federal, state and local government claims arising from the spill.
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Unilever is working with headhunters at Russell Reynolds Associates as it begins a search to find a new chairman to replace Michael Treschow, who has been in the role since May 2007, Sky News reported. Citing people close to the process, the report said that Unilever is expected to name its next chairman by the end of the year.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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International Personal Finance warned there could be financial consequences as a result of potential legal changes in Poland that could result in a cap that covers a broader definition of non-interest costs than previously suggested. International Personal Finance, which provides home credit and digital loans, said it is reviewing draft legislation as it works out whether the structure of its products will be affected by a cap that could affect all non-interest costs in connection with a consumer loan agreement, a change from previous proposals that involved a cap on all mandatory, non-interest costs.
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Polymetal International said it has acquired the entire licence for the Primorskoye silver-gold property located in the Magadan region of Russia from Decamor Investments. The miner said it has paid an initial USD4.5 million to Decamor and will pay a deferred cash consideration later on.
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US-based Platform Specialty Products said it has agreed a GBP1.35 billion takeover of chemicals company Alent. Platform Specialty, a chemicals industry consolidation vehicle, said it will pay 503 pence in cash for Alent shares, a premium of around 49% to Alent's closing price of 337.7 pence on Friday. "The significant premium being offered by Platform recognises the progress Alent has made, the opportunities in front of us and the overall quality of the business, whilst also presenting a clear opportunity for our shareholders to realise the full value of their investment earlier," Alent Chief Executive Andrew Heath said.
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Network Rail, the UK state-funded track operator, could be broken up, with responsibility for maintenance handed to individual train operators, according to plans set out by UK government ministers on Friday, The Times reported Saturday. Under the new system, payment for track operations would be handed to individual train operators, such as London-listed Stagecoach, First Group and Go-Ahead Group, rather than Network Rail, amid concerns over the organisation's performance.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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The president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, died aged 55 of a bile duct growth, the company said. Iwata led the development of such popular products as Nintendo DS and Wii game consoles. He passed away on Saturday, the Japanese video game maker said in a statement.
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The US defence giant Lockheed Martin is in talks to purchase the Sikorsky helicopter unit of United Technologies, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The talks were described as "advanced" and agreement could be sealed in "the coming days," The Journal wrote, citing people familiar with the matter. The reported price of at least USD8 billion would be Lockheed's biggest deal in 20 years, when it bought Martin Marietta Corporation, according to S&P Capital IQ quoted by The Journal. Sikorsky is one of the world's largest producers of helicopters, including the Black Hawk choppers used by the US military.
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Apple has released the beta software program for its upcoming iOS 9. The Apple beta software program allows users to try out pre-release versions of the software. iOS 9 will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and later.
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Mitie
Hornby
Styles & Wood Group
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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