(Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended mostly higher on Wednesday, with investors showing continued confidence the coronavirus outbreak in China will not seriously disrupt the global economy.
The death toll from China's coronavirus epidemic climbed past 1,100 but the number of new cases fell for a second straight day, as the World Health Organisation urged global unity to combat the "grave threat". More than 45,000 people have now been infected by the newly named COVID-19.
In a positive development, the number of new cases fell in Hubei with some 1,600 reported, according to figures from the National Health Commission.
Outside the province, the number of new patients has declined every day for the past week.
"In general, the number of new cases is now slowly decreasing," Zhong Nanshan, a scientist at China's National Health Commission, said in a video conference with medical staff in Wuhan on Tuesday.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 34.93 points, or 0.5%, at 7,534.37. The FTSE 250 ended up 147.46 points, or 0.7%, at 21,793.48, but the AIM All-Share closed flat at 969.47.
The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.3% at 12,757.05, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.6% at 19,635.01, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.5% at 12,482.04.
In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 0.8%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended 0.9% higher.
"Markets, it seems, are doing their best to look beyond the coronavirus, particularly now the idea of a slowdown in its growth appears to be gaining traction. The past ten years have seen a host of crises, about which much ink has been spilled. While the economic impact on China will take months to calculate, and is certainly not yet fully apparent, it does look like investors have decided the virus is no longer a threat," said IG Group's Chris Beauchamp.
In the FTSE 100, NMC Health ended the best performer, up 9.8% after Czech activist investor Krupa Global Investments said it had found an unnamed private-equity group from eastern Europe interested in taking a stake in the UAE-focused private healthcare firm.
Krupa Global, which holds a million shares in NMC, said the unnamed investor holds EUR10 billion in assets under management and has "dominant position" in several health care businesses on the continent.
Elsewhere, foreign exchange provider Finablr, which was founded by NMC Joint Chair Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty ended the best FTSE 250 performer, up 14%.
"We see shares of NMC Health significantly undervalued after recent sell-off and our strategic partner in healthcare sector share our view. This is a great opportunity for us and our partner to take strategic stake in the biggest healthcare provider in the Middle East. We have informed NMC management that we also have interest to provide financing for Mr Shetty's ambition to get NMC under his control, if necessary,†said Pavol Krupa, chairman of KGI.
Carnival closed up 2.1% despite the cruise line operator warning that its financial 2020 earnings will suffer due to travel restrictions and trip cancellations amid the outbreak of the coronavirus in China.
Carnival's main rival Royal Caribbean Cruises was up 3.0% on Wall Street.
In the FTSE 250, Babcock International ended the worst performer, down 3.9%. The defence contractor edged its profit guidance slightly lower, and added it expects a GBP85 million one-off hit from its oil and gas business.
The oil and gas unit is part of Babcock's Aviation division, which it announced it would restructure "in response to current trading".
For the year ending March, the company now expects underlying operating profit at around GBP540 million, which would represent an 8.2% decline from GBP588.4 million the year prior.
Babcock's previous guidance for financial 2020 was for operating profit in the range of GBP540 million and GBP560 million.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2975 at the London equities close, up from USD1.2944 at the close on Tuesday.
The euro stood at USD1.0894 at the European equities close, down from USD1.0917 on Tuesday, after disappointing economic data from the continent.
Eurozone industrial production fell by more than expected in December, figures from Eurostat showed.
Industrial production was down 2.1% month-on-month in December, having been stable in November. Production had been forecast to fall 1.6% in December, according to FXStreet consensus.
Year-on-year, industrial production slumped 4.1%, a far steeper fall than the 1.7% decline recorded for November. Market consensus had pencilled in a less-severe 2.3% fall. For 2019 as a whole, production fell by 1.7% in the euro area when compared to 2018.
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY110.00, up from JPY109.87 late Tuesday.
In the US, the DJIA was up 0.7%, the S&P 500 index up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.5%. The S&P and Dow hit all-time highs in early trade as investors drew comfort from a drop in the number of new cases of coronavirus infections in China.
Markets are watching US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in his second day of testimony before Congress, where he repeated that of the virus outbreak poses a risk to the global economy. However, while it is sure to hit China, the impact on the US is less clear, he added.
Brent oil was quoted at USD55.55 a barrel at the London equities close, up from USD54.10 at the close Tuesday, as coronavirus fears eased.
Meanwhile, OPEC lowered its forecast for growth in global oil demand this year by nearly a fifth due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China.
In its monthly report on the world's oil market, OPEC said it now expects growth in global oil demand of 0.99 million barrels per day this year, down from the 1.22 million barrels forecast last month.
"The outbreak of the coronavirus in China during the first half of 2020 is the major factor behind this downward revision," OPEC said.
Disruptions are expected to hit economic output and China has been a major source of growth in demand for oil in recent years.
Gold was quoted at USD1,566.10 an ounce at the London equities close, firm against USD1,564.39 late Tuesday.
The economic events calendar on Thursday has Germany and US inflation readings at 0700 GMT and 1330 GMT respectively.
The UK corporate Thursday has annual results from soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola HBC, British Gas owner Centrica, information and analytics firm RELX and lender Barclays.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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