Mothercare Share News (MTC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended higher on Friday in the absence of further trade war developments, while the pound remained below the USD1.27 mark as UK Prime Minister Theresa May called time on her tenure in office.The FTSE 100 index closed up 46.69 points, or 0.7%, at 7,277.73, ending the week down 0.1%.The FTSE 250 ended up 96.05 points, or 0.5% at 19,127.26, ending the week down 1.9%, and the AIM All-Share closed up 3.05 points, or 0.3%, at 960.59, ending the week up 0.2%.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.6% at 12,336.65, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.4% at 17,198.38, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.7% at 11,847.99.In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 0.7%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.5%. "Global markets are looking set to close out the week in relatively bullish fashion, with gains throughout Europe driving upside on the other side of the pond. The US growth story took another hit today, with lower than expected core durable goods orders providing the second disappointment in as many days after yesterday's worrying PMI figures. However, much of the strength seen in the Europe can be attributed to recent euro and sterling downside, where Brexit linked weakness could help drive the likes of the FTSE 100 higher yet," said IG Group's Josh Mahony. The pound was quoted at USD1.2687 at the London equities close, higher than USD1.2662 at the close Thursday, following May's resignation announcement. Sterling hit an intraday high of USD1.2718 in the wake of May's departure announcement. Having met with successive failures in garnering support for the UK government's withdrawal deal she had negotiated with the EU, May announced that she will resign as Conservative leader on June 7.May will continue to serve as prime minister until her party elects a replacement for her."If the new UK prime minister is lucky, she or he will have a choice of four options as the Brexit deadline of 31 October approaches: pass the Withdrawal Agreement for an orderly Brexit, leave without a deal, revoke Brexit, or sign up to a multi-year extension until well after the next scheduled UK general election. If he or she is unlucky, the EU27 will not even offer the last option of a new extension. There is very little appetite within the EU to let the Brexit issue fester for longer," said Berenberg's Holger Schmieding.In an emotional statement at No 10 Downing Street Friday, the UK's second female prime minister said she had done her best to implement what the people of the country decided in a referendum in 2016 - its exit from the EU.May said she did everything she can to convince MPs to back the deal, but it was a matter of "deep regret" that she had been unable to do so.The PM appealed to lawmakers on all sides of the debate to find consensus in Parliament to reach a compromise on delivering the promise of Brexit.May's resignation triggers a contest for a new Conservative leader, who will assume the mantle of prime minister, and will be faced with the daunting prospect of breaking the impasse over Brexit.The frontrunners tipped to succeed May include an array of heavy hitters at the top of the UK government. These include Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Dominic Raab - former Brexit secretary, Andrea Leadsom - former Leader of the House of Commons, Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and bookies favorite, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson. Schmieding commented: "The leading contender to succeed May, Boris Johnson, is seen on the continent as a talented self-promoter with a limited grasp of the European facts and little ideological baggage. After all, he reportedly made up his mind whether or not to back Brexit only on the evening he had to publish a newspaper column about his choice. While he did not endear himself to his continental colleagues during his stint as foreign minister, his flexibility could turn into an advantage. If and when he has achieved his ambition to move in 10 Downing Street, he may have an interest to limit the Brexit damage to the UK. With his credibility as a Brexiteer, he may even achieve what May, for lack of that credibility, did not. "We would not rule out that Boris may convince more of his Conservative colleagues in parliament to pass the Withdrawal Agreement as the basis for talks about UK-EU future relations. Johnson might even do a deal with Labour. After all, if he is in office, Labour would not need to insist on a 'Boris lock', that is on an elusive safeguard against the risk that a May successor may not abide by a deal she might have struck with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. From the EU27 angle, a genuine hardline Brexiteer without the flexibility ascribed to Boris Johnson could be a worse outcome."On the London Stock Exchange, Antofagasta closed up 2.9% as the miner benefited from a higher copper price. Informa ended up 2.5% after the events and business media company said it remains confident of meeting full-year expectations despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical risk, as it posted growth across all its divisions. Vodafone closed up 2.3% after HSBC upgraded the telecommunications company to Buy from Hold, saying the decision to cut its dividend was in its best interests and positive catalysts are in place for a share price rise.In the FTSE 250, Royal Mail closed up 6.4% after the postal operator was raised to Buy from Neutral by Goldman Sachs and to Hold from Sell by Liberum. The US bank said Royal Mail's current share price includes no prospect of profitability improvement "despite clear areas of efficiency potential". Liberum remained cautious on Royal Mail, but upgraded its rating on the postal operator now its valuation has fully priced in the headwinds the stock faces. Elsewhere, Mothercare closed up 9.3% after the troubled mother and baby products retailer said it narrowed its loss in its recently ended financial year as it progresses on restructuring. The company reported a pretax loss of GBP66.6 million for the 53 weeks to March 30 compared to the GBP94.0 million loss reported the year earlier, as operating costs were slashed by 29% to GBP47.3 million from GBP66.7 million. Revenue declined by 12% to GBP513.8 million from GBP580.6 million the year before, due to the chain's UK store closure programme. Mothercare said it now has 79 stores, down from 134 in the prior year, representing a reduction in space of 30%. Mothercare said in its recently commenced financial year, it is seeing some improving UK trends as it continue to rebuild as the specialist retailer for parents and young children.Meanwhile, UK politicians are waiting for the results of European elections which could deliver a damaging blow to both the Tory and Labour parties. Results of the European contests will not start being announced until Sunday night but opinion polls have suggested Nigel Farage's Brexit Party is on course for victory in the elections, which are only taking place because of the delay to Brexit. Results will be announced after 2200 BST on Sunday, when the final polls have closed across the continent.Both May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn are braced for a backlash from voters, with Nigel Farage's Brexit party and the Liberal Democrats expected to pick up votes."The opposition parties will also no doubt trot out their demands for a new election, though any keenness to hold one is likely to be tempered by how badly the Conservative and Labour party do when the European election results are announced. A good showing for the Brexit party could also complicate matters in terms of optics as it might prompt EU leaders to perceive the UK is a lost cause, and reinforce French President Macron's view that the UK should be cut loose in October," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson. In economic news, UK retail sales performed better-than-expected in April as warm weather boosted clothing sales, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.The retail sales volume remained unchanged month-on-month, after rising 1.2% in March. Sales were forecast to drop 0.3%.At the same time, sales excluding auto fuel, dropped 0.2%, in contrast to March's 1.4% increase. Economists had forecast a 0.5% fall. Online retailers selling clothing products were the driver to this growth, with the warm weather helping to boost sales.Ruth Gregory, an economist at Capital Economics, said away from this morning's political developments, April's retail sales figures were better than most had feared.The euro stood at USD1.1207 at the European equities close, up from USD1.1164 late Thursday. "We think that safe-haven demand will have the biggest bearing on the euro/dollar exchange rate this year. We expect the global economy to remain weak during the rest of 2019, and that this will prompt investors to seek the relative safety of gold, the yen, and the dollar - as they usually do in periods of financial market stress. In fact, the dollar has appreciated against most currencies in recent weeks, as renewed trade tensions have reduced risk appetite," said analysts at Capital Economics. Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close amid bargain hunting as some investors look to pick up stocks at reduced levels following Thursday's sharp losses.The DJIA was up 0.3%, the S&P 500 index up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.5%.The markets are also benefiting from easing trade concerns as President Donald Trump said he remains hopeful of a US-China trade deal, noting he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next month.On the US economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing a pullback in durable goods orders in the month of April.The report said durable goods orders tumbled by 2.1% in April after jumping by a downwardly revised 1.7% in March. Economists had expected orders to slump by 2.0% compared to the 2.6% spike that had been reported for the previous month. Excluding a steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders were unchanged in April following a revised 0.5% drop in March. Economists had expected a 0.2% uptick.Brent oil was quoted at USD67.55 a barrel at the London equities close, marginally lower than USD67.75 at the close Thursday. Gold was quoted at USD1,284.02 an ounce at the London equities close, broadly flat against USD1,285.30 late Thursday.On Monday, financial markets in the UK will be closed for the spring bank holiday, while markets in the US will be closed for Memorial Day.