LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares were mostly lower early Friday, as the US Fed-inspired stock market rally petered out around the world.
Miners led FTSE 100 gainers amid firm gold prices, while cruise operator Carnival was the biggest loser, down 2.3%, ahead of its full-year results announcement expected in the afternoon at 1500 GMT.
Sports Direct International said founder Mike Ashley will personally oversee a review of all agency worker terms and conditions in order to ensure its employees and casual staff work in good conditions. The announcement follows a scathing report into the company by the Guardian newspaper. The stock was up 0.5% early Friday.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6,099.53
FTSE 250: down 0.3% at 17,129.57
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 722.85
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.5% at 21,755.56
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.9% at 18,986.80
DJIA: closed down 1.4% at 17,495.84
S&P 500: closed down 1.5% at 2,041.89
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GBP: up at USD1.4926 (USD1.4885)
EUR: up at USD1.0854 (USD1.0818)
GOLD: up at USD1,055.58 per ounce (USD1,052.20)
OIL (Brent): flat at USD37.16 a barrel (USD37.19)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)
09:00 Italy Wage Inflation
09:00 EU Current Account
13:30 Canada Wholesale Sales
13:30 Canada Consumer Price Index
14:45 US Markit Services and Composite PMI Preliminary
16:00 US Kansas Fed manufacturing activity
18:00 US Fed's Lacker speech
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Mark Carney has opened the door to serving a full eight-year term as Bank of England governor, the Financial Times reported. That would be three years longer than Carney originally planned. According to the FT, Carney said he has "so much more" to do at the central bank. He did not rule out seeking to stay longer than the five years he has committed to, according to the report. "I'm not crossing off dates on the calendar," Carney told the FT.
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EU leaders declared themselves ready to find "mutually satisfactory solutions" on controversial reform demands made by Britain, but Prime Minister David Cameron warned that "hard work" lies ahead to keep it in the EU. Cameron has proposed controversial reforms that he says could help avert a Brexit vote in an in-out referendum to be held by the end of 2017. Cameron held a first round of negotiations with his EU counterparts on Thursday evening. "It's going to take a lot of hard work, but what I sensed tonight in the room [is] that there's a lot of goodwill, there is momentum, people want a deal that keeps Britain in the EU," he later told journalists in Brussels. In a joint statement, the bloc's 28 leaders agreed to "work closely together to find mutually satisfactory solutions" at their next summit in mid-February.
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Home prices in majority of the Chinese cities increased in November, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. On a monthly basis, house prices rose 33 cities out of 70 surveyed by the NBS. It dropped in 27 cities and showed no variations in 10 cities.
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The Bank of Japan kept its monetary base target unchanged but unveiled a new program to buy exchange-traded funds to encourage capital investment. The Monetary Policy Board of the BoJ governed by Haruhiko Kuroda decided by an 8-1 majority vote on Friday to hold its target of raising the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY80 trillion. Nonetheless, the BoJ said it will establish a new program for purchases of exchange-traded funds at an annual pace of about JPY 300 billion, in addition to the current program of ETF purchases. Further, the bank will extend the average maturity government bond holdings.
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The UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution Thursday aiming to cut off funding sources of the Islamic State extremist group by strengthening the sanctions regime focusing on the group. The document, which was passed during the first meeting of the council at which several countries were represented by their finance ministers, renames the current al-Qaeda sanctions regime as ISIL and al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee to signal the council's shifting focus to the specificities of the extremist group. The resolution also allows the UN to impose sanctions on any entity that aids or is associated with the extremist group and calls on countries to step up information sharing across borders and with the private sector.
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Israel and Turkey have agreed on the basics of a deal to normalize their relations, news media said Friday, with other reports that talks were ongoing. Under the proposed agreement, which has yet to be signed, Israel would pay compensation for a deadly incident in 2010, Israeli radio reported. Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara pro-Palestinian aid flotilla off the coast of Gaza in May 2010 and killed nine Turkish nationals and a Turkish-US citizen on board.
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The value of the Argentinian peso slid by more than 40% against the dollar after the country ended currency controls. The currency traded at 13.95 pesos per US dollar Thursday, a steep decline from 9.84 pesos per dollar the day before, under the rate set by the central bank. The new price corresponds roughly to the previous black market rate for the peso. Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay announced the end of currency controls Wednesday night.
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A bill providing more than USD600 billion in tax cuts easily cleared the House, setting up a vote on a separate bill to fund the government through the end of the current fiscal year. The House voted 318 to 109 in favor of the package of tax cuts known as the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act. Most Republicans voted for the bill along with 77 Democrats. The bill includes a laundry list of tax breaks for businesses, investors and families and makes a number of temporary tax provisions permanent.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERENBERG RAISES NORTHGATE TO 'HOLD' ('SELL') - TARGET 400 (455) PENCE
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TRADERS: BARCLAYS CUTS VICTREX TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' ('OVERWEIGHT')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Sports Direct International said founder Mike Ashley will personally oversee a review of all agency worker terms and conditions in order to ensure its employees and casual staff work in good conditions. Ashley, who is deputy chairman and owns a 55% stake in the retailer, is expected to begin that review in the New Year, Sports Direct said. The review comes in the wake of serious questions raised about the conditions faced by the company's workforce. Last week, the Guardian newspaper reported that workers at the company's Shirebrook warehouse were effectively paid under the minimum wage because of the conditions there.
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GlaxoSmithKline said its HIV joint venture ViiV Healthcare has agreed to buy Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's late-stage HIV research and development assets and its portfolio of preclinical and discovery stage HIV research assets. ViiV will pay USD317 million upfront for the late-stage assets, followed by development and first commercial sale milestones of up to USD518 million, along with tiered royalties on sales. For the preclinical and discovery stage assets, it will pay USD33 million upfront, followed by development and first commercial sales milestones of up to USD587 million, with further consideration contingent on future sales performance.
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AstraZeneca said preliminary findings from its phase III trial of durvalumab in third line or later-stage therapy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer supports the durvalumab's clinical activity. However, the company said it now believes it is unlikely the trial can be used for the regulatory submission of the drug as a monotherapy, although it will make that decision following a full analysis of the data.
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BG Group said its Lake Charles liquefied natural gas export project has been approved by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. This was the key remaining regulatory consent for the project to construct and operate a natural gas liquefaction and export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in development with Energy Transfer Equity and Energy Transfer Partners. The project already has conditional authorisation from the US Department of Energy to export up to 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day, or around 15 million metric tonnes per year.
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UK regulators pushed back an announcement about a review into Royal Bank of Scotland's treatment of business customers in financial difficulty. The bank has faced allegations that its Global Restructuring Group, which has since been closed, mistreated small businesses for its own gain. "The work is ongoing and good progress has been made, and all parties remain keen to complete this complex review quickly. An announcement will be made as soon as possible in 2016," the Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement. An announcement had previously been expected before the end of 2015.
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Testing, inspection and certification services company Intertek Group said it has agreed to acquire Italian assurance services company Food International Trust for an undisclosed sum. FIT-Italia provides assurance, testing and certification services for the retail and agricultural sectors. Intertek said the acquisition will support its growth strategy in assurance services for this market, combined with its own international food offering. Founded in 2007 and privately owned, FIT-Italia employs 15 people across two facilities located in Bergamo and Fermo.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Aggreko confirmed it has pulled out of the bidding process for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic and Paralympic Games. The temporary power supplier said that it had made the decision after it had been advised it had not been awarded the first tranche of contracts, citing the preparation required for an event of that scale.
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Technology company Laird said it has agreed to buy German integrated vehicle connectivity systems provider Novero for a total of EUR65 million from Donares. It will issue 3.2 million shares, valued at around EUR15.5 million, representing around 1.2% of its issued share capital to the sellers. The remainder of the consideration will be paid in cash from Laird's existing bank facilities.
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Amec Foster Wheeler said it has been awarded an engineering procurement and construction contract for Petra Diamonds' Cullinan Mill extension project near Pretoria, in South Africa, valued at around USD113 million. The contract will be executed by its South African mining company MDM Engineering, and is for the design, procurement and construction services for the mine.
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SVG Capital said it will return GBP50.0 million to shareholders through a tender offer for their shares. The tender offer has been priced at 565.0 pence per share, a 9.5% discount to the adjusted, diluted net asset value of 624.3p recorded on October 31. However, it represents a premium to the stock price, which closed at 487.00p on Thursday.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Wells Fargo said it has entered into an agreement with Zurich American Insurance, a subsidiary of Zurich Insurance Group, to sell its crop insurance business, Rural Community Insurance Services or RCIS, and its subsidiary Rural Community Insurance Company. The estimated purchase price is between USD675 million and USD1.05 billion.
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Apple announced plans to launch its smartphone-based electronic payment system in the world's largest smartphone market on Friday. Apple Pay will start in early 2016, pending approval by regulators, said Apple and China's state-owned credit card processor China UnionPay in a joint announcement. The two companies have contracts with 15 Chinese banks to support the system that enables UnionPay cardholders to pay via Apple iPhones, Apple Watches and iPads, Apple said in an online press release.
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Tobacco giant Philip Morris Asia saw its claim against the Australian plain-packaging law thrown out by an international arbitration panel, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. It is the latest setback in big tobacco's fight against the new law, which requires cigarettes in Australia to be sold in plain packets without brand colours or logos, and with graphic images warning of health risks such as lung cancer and heart disease. Philip Morris Asia, the Hong Kong-based parent company of Philip Morris Australia, had asked the Permanent Court of Arbitration to hear the case. But its Singapore branch said Friday the court had no jurisdiction in the matter.
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German car giant Volkswagen's US subsidiary, Volkswagen Group of America, said it will create an independent claims resolution program to address claims related to the diesel emissions compliance issue. Volkswagen has retained attorney and compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg, managing partner of the Law Offices of Kenneth Feinberg, PC, to design and administer the claims program related to the 2.0L and 3.0L TDI vehicles affected by the emissions compliance issue.
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French media and music company Vivendi announced that it has acquired 64.4% of share capital of Radionomy Group, a major global player in the digital radio industry. The Vivendi Group has become Radionomy's majority shareholder alongside its founder Alexandre Saboundjian, its employees and Union Square Ventures. Vivendi said that over 57,000 radio stations are using Radionomy's tools to help broadcast and monetize their programs in the digital space.
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The way to the Magic Kingdom may now lead through a metal detector, Disney said, announcing heightened security measures at all of its US theme parks. In a statement e-mailed to media, Disney said in recent weeks it has instituted random metal detector screenings and increased uniformed local police presence at Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California. The family entertainment complexes will no longer sell toy guns, and visitors over the age of 14 will no longer be admitted wearing costumes, Disney said. Police last weekend arrested a man who tried to carry a real gun into Walt Disney World in Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
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A pharmaceutical company executive who became infamous for implementing an astronomical increase in the price of a drug was arrested in New York City on federal charges of securities fraud related to firms he previously led. Martin Shkreli, 32, allegedly defrauded investors in two hedge funds he founded and in Retrophin, a pharmaceutical firm he previously led. The case is unrelated to Turing Pharmaceuticals, where Shkreli as chief executive acquired a drug used to treat parasitic infections - including in AIDS patients - and hiked the price from USD13.50 per pill to USD750.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs
Intu Properties (re property lease)
Invesco Property Income Trust (EGM)
Hellenic Carriers
REACT Energy
Stellar Diamonds
Pacific Alliance China Land (re continuation resolution)
Treveria (re investing policy, name change to Glenwick)
JPMorgan Japanese Investment Trust
Armstrong Ventures
Software Radio Technology (live shareholder webcast)
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
