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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened higher Monday, on what is likely to be a quiet start to the week, with the US on holiday and as investors look ahead to the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday.

Goldman Sachs has raised its price target for a string of UK insurance stocks, including Prudential, Standard Life, Amlin, Hiscox, Legal & General and Old Mutual, while cutting that of RSA Insurance.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,558.72
FTSE 250: up 0.2% at 15,955.62
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 697.73
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Hang Seng: closed down 1.5% at 23,738.49
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.9% at 17,014.29
DJIA: closed up 1.1% at 17,511.57
S&P 500: closed up 1.3% at 2,019.42
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.5134
EUR-USD: down at USD1.1556

GOLD: down at USD1,276.23 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD49.62 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 GMT)

holiday US Martin L. King's Birthday
09:00 EU Current Account
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The EY ITEM Club has upgraded its forecast for economic growth in the UK, arguing the recent collapse in the oil price is a positive for Britain, and thinks that interest rates won't start to rise until Spring 2016 due to low inflation. The economic forecaster said it has revised up its forecast for UK GDP growth in 2015 to 2.9% from its estimate of 2.4% in October. The upward revision means it is now forecasting an acceleration from last year's estimated growth of 2.6% and has revised up its growth estimate for 2016 to 2.9%. The ITEM Club said the UK is "decisively a winner" from the fall in oil prices over the last few months.
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The average asking price for a house in the UK was up 1.4% on month in January, property tracking website Rightmove said. That follows the upwardly revised 2.2% contraction in December (originally -3.3%). On a yearly basis, house prices jumped 8.2% following the 7.0% spike in the previous month.
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Train traffic through the Channel Tunnel is operating again, the tunnel's operator reported Sunday, a day after all service was interrupted due to a lorry fire near the French mouth of the tunnel. No injuries were reported, though it did require all trains to return to their points of origin.
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Consumer confidence in Japan increased more than expected in December, figures from the Cabinet Office showed. The consumer confidence index rose to 38.8 in December from 37.7 in the previous month. Economists had forecast the index to rise to 38.5.
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Japan's industrial production declined less than initially estimated in November, final figures from the Ministry of Economy and Trade and Industry showed. Industrial production dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.5% month-on-month in November, revised from a 0.6% fall. In October, production grew 0.4%.
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The Ukrainian army on Sunday stepped up an operation to retake the strategic Donetsk airport from Russia-backed separatists as pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko vowed to regain control of rebel-held territories in the east. "We will not give away a single inch of Ukrainian land," he told thousands of supporters in Kiev, adding that his government would reinstate Ukrainian sovereignty on the separatist eastern region of Donbass on the border with Russia. Fighting for control of the Donetsk airport had earlier this week prompted the cancellation of peace talks.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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GOLDMAN RAISES PRUDENTIAL PRICE TARGET TO 1775 (1630) PENCE - 'BUY'
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TRADERS: JEFFERIES RAISES PRUDENTIAL PRICE TARGET TO 1713 (1577) PENCE
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GOLDMAN RAISES STANDARD LIFE PRICE TARGET TO 415 (405) PENCE - 'NEUTRAL'
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GOLDMAN CUTS RSA INSURANCE PRICE TARGET TO 445 (455) PENCE - 'NEUTRAL'
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GOLDMAN RAISES OLD MUTUAL PRICE TARGET TO 230 (225) PENCE - 'BUY'
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GOLDMAN RAISES LEGAL & GENERAL PRICE TARGET TO 250 (235) PENCE - 'NEUTRAL'
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GOLDMAN RAISES AMLIN PRICE TARGET TO 460 (450) PENCE - 'NEUTRAL'
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GOLDMAN RAISES HISCOX PRICE TARGET TO 625 (607) PENCE - 'SELL'
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GOLDMAN RAISES GULF KEYSTONE PRICE TARGET TO 65 (60) PENCE - 'NEUTRAL'
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GOLDMAN RAISES GENEL ENERGY PRICE TARGET TO 921 (850) PENCE - 'BUY'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Telefonica and Hutchison Whampoa are understood to have held talks about merging their UK businesses, as the Spanish owner of O2 considers its options following BT Group's decision to buy EE, the Financial Times reported. Telefonica has been considering various options for the future of O2 in the UK since last summer and held talks with BT to sell the business in December before BT decided to pursue a deal with EE. The FT cited a person with knowledge of the matter who said "everyone is still speaking to everyone", including Hutchison Whampoa, the owner of Three. The person said other potential partners for O2 include TalkTalk Telecom and Sky.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Greene King reported higher sales in both its brewing and pub operations over the key Christmas trading period, although the growth was lower than in the previous year and it said trading had been volatile either side of the holiday period and soft in recent weeks. In a statement, the brewer and pub operator that's in the final stages of acquiring Spirit Pub Co, said total sales were up 5.9% in the 36 weeks to January 11, with like-for-like sales up just 0.6%. Its like-for-like sales in the last six weeks were in line with the 5.0% growth it reported for the same six weeks a year earlier, it said.
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Kier Group said it has been awarded over GBP145 million of new construction deals in the Middle East since the start of 2015. The property and construction company said it had been made preferred bidder on a GBP100 million mixed-use development as well as two infrastructure contracts totalling GBP15 million on a major new leisure park project for the region, while it has secured a GBP30 million infrastructure project In Saudi Arabia with a Saudi state-owned company in the eastern region.
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Balfour Beatty said it has been appointed as sole contractor to a new UK-wide civil engineering and infrastructure framework for public works that's valued at up to GBP1.5 billion in total. In a statement, the infrastructure company said the framework deal runs until February 2019, and individual projects within the framework are expected to be valued at up to GBP40 million. It covers things like major road projects, road repairs, new bridges, coastal defence works and light rail schemes.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Rangers International Football Club said it is in talks with two shareholders over a possible financing package which may result in its Ibrox Stadium being used at security, something the club had previously resisted, as it also confirmed shareholder Dave King has called for a general meeting to vote on the removal of the club's current board. Rangers said it is currently in talks with two parties who are currently stakeholders. Rangers said the discussions involve "a significant amount of capital being available to the business on a long-term basis in order to enhance the squad which the directors believe is necessary."
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Iron ore producer Ferrexpo said production rose and costs decreased during the first nine months of 2014, but saw a decline in pretax profit after the company made a significant impairment charge on one of its investments and suffered a decrease in revenue caused by lower iron ore prices.
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Supply chain services firm Wincanton said it has won a new contract with BAE Systems to provide it with logistics and warehousing services to support its UK shipbuilding operations. No financial details of the contract were disclosed. Wincanton said that the long-term agreement will see it operating a central warehousing facility, inbound scheduling and collections, and provision of modular re-usable crates. BAE Systems said it has an existing relationship with Wincanton through the Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers programme.
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Brady said its 2014 results will be in line with market expectations, after recognising "record" licence revenue, while its cash position at the end of the year will be significantly ahead of market hopes. In a short trading statement, the company said it had cash of GBP9.5 million as of December 31.
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Mobile gaming platform provider Nektan said it has appointed David Gosen as its chief executive officer with immediate effect. Gosen joins the company from audience measurement company Nielsen Holdings NV, and previously held positions at Microsoft Corp's Xbox Europe, Nintendo Co Ltd's Nintendo Europe, video game developer I-Play, Sky PLC, and the Coca-Cola Co.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Deutsche Telekom plans to increase spending on networks in its home market of Germany to ward off rivals including Vodafone Group and Spanish telecom group Telefónica, Bloomberg reported. Chief Executive Officer Timotheus Hoettges reportedly said that the carrier earmarked EUR23.5 billion in the next five years for its German landline and mobile networks, small cells and the digitalization of infrastructure. The company budgeted EUR23 billion for 2010 to 2015.
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Anadarko Petroleum is facing a pollution penalty of as much as USD3.5 billion for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, because it owned 25% of the oil well drilled by the ill-fated rig, the Wall street Journal reported. In a trial beginning January 20, Anadarko will argue that it was just an investor in the ill-fated rig, which exploded in 2010. On Thursday, BP said that a US District Court ruled that 3.19 million barrels of oil were discharged into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in the US history. However, the Court has now found that BP was 'not grossly negligent' in its source control efforts.
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Telecom giant AT&T disclosed in a regulatory filing that it expects to record a non-cash, pre-tax loss of about USD7.9 billion in the fourth-quarter ended December 31, 2014 related to actuarial gains and losses on pension and post-employment benefit plans. The results will also include a USD2.1 billion non-cash charge for the abandonment in place of certain network assets.
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Citigroup lost more than USD150 million after the Swiss central bank's decision to let the franc trade freely against the euro, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with matter. The report said that the losses occurred on the New York-based bank's trading desks and weren't tied to its relationships with FXCM and other retail trading platforms.
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Google is in talks to acquire mobile-payments company Softcard in a deal that would pair the Internet giant with the largest US wireless carriers to battle Apple Inc and its new Apple Pay service, the Wall street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. Softcard is owned by AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA. Quoting people, the report said that Google recently entered exclusive negotiations with Softcard by offering to buy the business for at least USD50 million.
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

BlueCrest BlueTrend
BSD Crown
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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