SGM.L Share News (SGM)

LONDON (Alliance News) -Shares have opened mostly flat Wednesday ahead of UK jobs figures and budget statement.

Shares of FTSE 100 engineering firm Smiths Group were down 4.0% at the open, as it reported lower pretax profit due to the company's Medical and Defence businesses.

Following its earnings report on Tuesday, Chilean miner Antofagasta has been cut to Underperform by Credit Suisse and to Sell by Deutsche Bank and is the biggest decliner in the FTSE 100, down 4.7%.

Meanwhile, AIM-giant ASOS, whose trading statement disappointed Tuesday, has been cut to Sell from Hold by Societe Generale.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.3% at 6,588.09
FTSE 250: up marginally at 16,359.58
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 868.06
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Hang Seng: down 0.1% at 21,568.69
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.4% at 14,462.52
DJIA: closed up 0.6% at 16,336.19
S&P 500: closed up 0.7% at 1,872.25
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6615
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3920

GOLD: down at USD1,352.90 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD106.45 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come

09:30 UK Bank of England Minutes, MPC Vote
09:30 UK ILO Unemployment Rate, Claimant Count, Average Earnings
10:00 EU Construction Output
10:00 Switzerland ZEW Survey
n/a Germany 10-y Bond Auction
11:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
12:30 UK Budget Report
12:30 US Current Account
12:30 Canada Wholesale Sales
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks change
18:00 US Fed Interest Rate Decision, Economic Projections, Asset Purchase Program
18:30 US Fed Monetary Policy Statement and press conference
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The Royal Mint announced that HM Treasury believes there is a "strong case" for introducing a new GBP1 coin to help reduce counterfeiting. Chancellor George Osborne has revealed the opportunity to create the most secure circulating coin in the world to date ahead of the 2014 annual budget announcement on Wednesday. The Royal Mint said it has produced a prototype twelve-sided coin which utilises multiple layers of cutting edge technology and would allow the UK to rapidly reduce the rate of counterfeit coins entering general circulation.
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EU leaders will consider ratcheting up pressure on Russia through economic sanctions at this week's summit in Brussels, amid heightened tensions over Moscow's course of action in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. The summit was meant to focus on the bloc's gradual economic recovery, as well as its future energy and climate change policies. But Ukraine will now dominate the agenda, with the 28 EU leaders due to "agree on a united European response" to the situation, EU President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have said.
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A Ukrainian soldier and a member of the so-called self defence force were killed by gunshots near a Crimean army base, the Crimean police said Tuesday, with the violence threatening to escalate into military confrontation, hours after Moscow signed a treaty making the region a part of Russia. In a statement on their website, police said a sniper fired shots in two different directions from an abandoned building close to a Ukrainian military base in the regional capital of Simferopol. The shots also injured two more soldiers, one Ukrainian and the other a self defence force member.
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US Vice President Joe Biden's mission to Poland and the Baltic countries includes energy security for Ukraine and the rest of Europe in the standoff with Russia over Crimea. Biden, sent by the White House on an emergency journey to reassure the region of US support during the tense situation, on Tuesday discussed with leaders several avenues to explore, including reverse gas flow and fracking for gas trapped in deep underground shale. He also announced that the US has deployed a dozen F-16 fighter jets to the Lask Airbase in Poland as part of its expansion of the US rotation into NATO's Baltic air policing programme to protect Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as military tensions in the region grow.
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Bank of Japan policymaker Takahide Kiuchi said side effects of further monetary easing would outweigh the positive effects and that would undermine economic stability in the long run. "If the current large-scale monetary easing policy were to be protracted or such policy strengthened by additional measures, the associated side effects would instead outweigh the positive effects," Kiuchi told business leaders in Shiga. He said the 2% inflation target is well above the level that is consistent with the economy's growth potential. There will be room for a future review of the level
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Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of JPY800.309 billion in February, the Ministry of Finance said - sliding into the red for the 19th consecutive month. The headline figure missed forecasts for a shortfall of JPY600.9 billion following the downwardly revised record deficit of JPY2,791.7 billion in January (originally JPY2,789.97 billion). Exports were up 9.8% on year - also shy of expectations for 12.5% following the 9.5% increase in the previous month.
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The Thai Constitutional Court will rule this week on the legality of Thailand's last general election in which several constituencies failed to conduct the polls, reports said. After hearing the testimony of the plaintiff Ombudsman Pornpetch Vichitcholachai, and the defendants representing the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the judges said they would announce their verdict on the constitutionality Friday, Thai TV reported.
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The search for a missing Malaysian airliner entered its 12th day on Wednesday with investigators still puzzled over why the aircraft disappeared and where it could possibly be now, a Malaysian aviation official said. "We are still clueless at to what happened to the missing plane 12 days on," the official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to media. A local newspaper reported that investigators found landing strips in Diego Garcia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and India in the flight simulator seized from the house of the plane's pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, but a police source said he was not aware of such report.
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Italy's top appeals body, the Court of Cassation, upheld late Tuesday a two-year public office ban on Silvio Berlusconi, a punishment linked to the tax fraud conviction the former premier was handed last year. Berlusconi was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for fraudulent accounting by his family media firm, Mediaset. Judges also said he should also be banned from public office, but left it to a later court decision to determine the length of that punishment.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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UBS RAISES ROLLS-ROYCE TO 'BUY' ('SELL') - TARGET 1160 (900) PENCE
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CREDIT SUISSE CUTS ANTOFAGASTA TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 750 PENCE
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DEUTSCHE BANK CUTS ANTOFAGASTA TO 'SELL' ('HOLD') - TARGET 735 (770) PENCE
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CREDIT SUISSE CUTS HSBC TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('OUTPERF,') - PRICE TARGET 580 (780) PENCE
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TRADERS: SOCGEN CUTS ASOS TO 'SELL' ('HOLD')
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TRADERS: UBS RAISES PERSIMMON TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL')
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TRADERS: UBS RAISES IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Smiths Group PLC raised its interim dividend and announced the expansion of its investment programme 'Fuel For Growth', although pretax profit declined as the company's Medical and Defence businesses weighed on results. The technology and engineering company posted a dividend of 12.75 pence, up from 12.50 pence in the previous year. Pretax profit declined to GBP132 million from GBP166 million, as revenue slipped to GBP1.44 billion from GBP1.48 billion in the previous year, largely due to the Medical and Defence businesses.
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Barclays PLC plans to solicit offers for its index business that could fetch USD400 million in a sale, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. According to the Bloomberg report, CME Group Inc, which had approached Barclays about buying the Index, Portfolio and Risk Solutions (IPRS) unit last year, is expected to make an offer.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Imagination Technologies PLC jumped to lead the FTSE 250 after the firm said it has developed a new suite of graphics processors for mobile phones and other consumer devices. Imagination said the new Wizard family of PowerVR Ray Tracing GPUs "dramatically" improves graphics, increasing realism and performance. The Wizard suite enables more immersive games and apps with real-life dynamic lighting models, supporting better lighting effects and like-life reflections, said the firm. Imagination also said the tool is scalable, making it usable in markets beyond just mobile devices.
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Kentz Corporation Ltd said its handling company in the US, Valerus FS, has been awarded a USD38 million engineering contract from Cardon IV SA in Venezuela. The major oil and gas engineering company said the contract is to provide engineering and procurement of a simplified early production plant in Punto Fijo, enabling first gas from the Perla field in Venezuela.
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Specialist life insurer Partnership Assurance Group PLC reported a declining new business sales in the fourth-quarter and said it expects a further fall in the first-quarter. Partnership Assurance shares were Wednesday quoted at 299.60 pence, down 6.1%, making it the second-largest faller in the FTSE 250. Partnership Assurance, which sells annuities to customers who may have diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or cancer, said fourth quarter new business sales fell to GBP297.1 million from GBP300.3 million in the third-quarter.
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Unite Group PLC said it has received planning approval for the development of a new student property in Islington, central London. The FTSE 250-listed student accommodation developer and manager said the new site will comprise of 900 beds, with the 260,000 square foot scheme forecast to require total development costs of GBP93 million and yield on cost of 8.8%.
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Domino Printing Says Sales In 4 Mos To End February Were 5% Ahead On Year; Says Underlying Growth In Core Business In 4 Mos To End February Was 8% Ahead Before 3% Adverse FX Impact; Says Sterling Strength To Have GBP0.7M Negative Impact On 1st 4 Mos
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COMPANIES - ALL-SHARE AND AIM
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Cape PLC said it swung to a pretax profit in 2013 despite a reduction in revenues as lower charges helped company finances during the period. The energy and natural resources engineering technology company posted a pretax profit of GBP200,000 in 2013, compared with a pretax loss of GBP143.2 million in 2012, when the company was hit by a major divestment charges as it streamlined operations which reduced overhead costs by more than 50%. However, the company said revenue fell 5.4% to GBP697.1 million in 2013 from GBP737.0 million the previous year, as the completion of a number of major projects in the first half, such as Kipper Tuna in Australia and Cape's SPT project in Singapore, along with weak market conditions in Kazakhstan and Asia Pacific, hit the company.
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Silence Therapeutics Considering Equity Fundraising To Strengthen Balance Sheet; Has GBP18.9M Net Cash, Can Meet Present Requirements
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Publishing Technologies Appoints COO Michael Cairns As CEO From April 1
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Charles Taylor FY Pretax Profit GBP6.9M Vs GBP6.6M; Revenue GBP113.6M Vs GBP108.2M; FY Dividend Maintained At 10.00p
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Sigma Capital Group Has Raised GBP8.0M Gross From Placing Of 11.4M Shares At 70p
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EG Solutions Names Duncan McIntyre As Non-Executive Chairman; Elizabeth Gooch To Step Down As Acting Executive Chairman; FY Pretax Loss GBP1.5M, Vs GBP458K Loss; Recent FY Included GBP343K Exceptional Remuneration Costs; FY Revenue GBP4.456M, Vs GBP4.951M Year Before; Says Large Proportion Of Expected Revenue For Current FY Under Contract, With Strong Pipeline; Announces Utilities Contract Win With Business Energy Solutions
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Wednesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Domino Printing Services
Safestore Holdings
RM
NB Global Floating Rate Income Fund
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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