OPHR.L Share News (OPHR)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening lower on Wednesday as markets reopen after the New Year's Day holiday, with Asian stocks having fallen overnight following a second report of a contraction in the Chinese manufacturing sector.In early UK company news, Playtech has agreed to pay additional taxes covering the period from 2008 to 2017, Ophir Energy confirmed it has received a takeover offer, and Faroe Petroleum reported slightly positive results from the Brasse East exploration well.In addition, Faroe published an independent valuation of its assets, which it said highlighted why DNO's takeover offer is inadequate.IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 62.13 points lower at 6,666.00. The blue chip index closed down 0.1%, or 5.84 points at 6,728.13 on Monday, ending 2018 12% lower. In early UK corporate news, FTSE 250-listed gaming software company Playtech has agreed with Israeli tax authorities to pay additional taxes of EUR28 million for the ten-year period from 2008 to 2017. This followed a civil tax audit covering the ten years, which led to the authorities making transfer pricing adjustments, covering Playtech's activity in Israel.Oil and gas company Ophir Energy confirmed that it has received a possible takeover offer from south east Asian natural resources firm PT Medco Energi.PT Medco has until January 28 to make a firm offer for Ophir.Faroe Petroleum said that industry expert Gaffney, Cline & Associates has valued the oil and gas company's assets in the range of 186 pence to 225 pence per share, which it said highlights the "inadequacy" of DNO's offer of 152p per share.Norway-focused oil and gas company DNO currently owns around a 30% stake in Faroe, and in late November made a hostile offer to acquire the remaining shares it does not own. Faroe has repeatedly rejected the offer, saying that it is "opportunistic and substantially undervalues" the company.In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 1.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 3.0%. Markets in Japan will remain closed until Friday.China's Caixin manufacturing PMI for December contracted for the first time in 19 months in December, dropping to 49.7 from 50.2 in November."The Chinese economy has been cooling recently and the figure overnight confirms the economic slowdown. A reading below 50.0 indicates a contraction, and today's report was the first contraction in 19 months. Asian stocks sold-off heavily overnight on the back of the disappointing update out of China," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.Wednesday's report was the second this week to show a contraction in Chinese factory activity. On Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics reported a PMI score of 49.4 for China's manufacturing sector in December, down from the no-change mark of 50.The bureau also said its non-manufacturing PMI climbed to 53.8, up from 53.4 in the previous month. As a result of the two scores, the bureau's composite index came in at 52.6 for December, down from 52.8 a month earlier.Sterling was lower against the dollar, quoted at USD1.2756 early Wednesday, compared to USD1.2782 at the London equities close on Monday. In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended broadly higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.2%, S&P 500 up 0.9% and Nasdaq Composite closing flat.In the US, President Donald Trump on Tuesday hinted that he was ready to negotiate an end to a partial US government shutdown amid reports that he has invited congressional leaders to the White House for talks.Trump mentioned the partial shutdown, currently going into day 12, in a tweet that referred to an impending power shift in the House of Representatives coming later this week."Border Security and the Wall 'thing' and Shutdown is not where Nancy Pelosi wanted to start her tenure as Speaker! Let's make a deal?" Trump said.On Friday, the US will release its nonfarm payrolls data for December at 1330 GMT.In the economic calendar on Wednesday, manufacturing PMI reports are still to come from Germany at 0855 GMT, the eurozone at 0900 GMT, the UK at 0930 GMT and the US at 1445 GMT.