LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks were adding gains early Thursday to the rebound that started on Wednesday after Republican Donald Trump's election as US president, with miners and financial firms leading the way.
The FTSE 100 index was up 1.1%, or 76.84 points, at 6,788.68. The FTSE 250 was 0.8% higher at 17,590.99, while the AIM All-Share was down 0.3% at 799.34.
The BATS UK 100 index was up 1.2% at 11,798.17, the BATS 250 was 1.0% higher at 16,107.78 and the BATS Small Companies was up 0.1% at 10,682.43.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.7% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was 0.6% higher.
"Markets are demonstrating an impressive ability to digest significant political change and move on, even quicker than we saw in the immediate aftermath of the UK's Brexit vote," said analysts at Accendo Markets.
"In our view this bodes well, given the increased chance that we see more of such political change, notably in Europe over the coming 12 months with elections in Austria, France and Germany, and a referendum [on constitutional reform] in Italy," noted Accendo.
Asian stocks caught up on Thursday with their European and US peers, having missed the rebound from the initial shock of Trump's election. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 6.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended 1.4% higher, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 2.0%.
Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday, with the Dow 30 up 1.4%, and both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.1%. All three stock indices rebounded immediately after only a slightly lower open, matching the performance seen in Europe.
In London Thursday, shares in ITV were up 1.5% after the television broadcaster said it expects its 2016 earnings to be in line with the prior year.
ITV said total revenue rose 6% in the first nine months of 2016 but net advertising revenue slipped by 1% as the television broadcaster had expected. Total revenue rose to GBP2.46 billion in the nine months to the end of September from GBP2.31 billion the previous year, ITV said, with non-net advertising revenue up 15% to GBP1.25 billion from GBP1.09 billion.
Net advertising revenue declined by 1% in the nine months, ITV said, and it expects net advertising revenue for its core family of television channels to be down 3% over 2016 as a whole, and down 7% in the fourth quarter of the year.
3i Group declared a 33% dividend rise with its interim results and said it is in a good position to weather political and financial instability, sending shares in the private equity and venture capital company up 0.2%.
3i reported its net asset value per share increased to 551 pence at September 30 from 463p at March 31. 3i said its total return for the six month period was 23% of opening shareholders' funds, a total of GBP1.0 billion. 3i declared an interim dividend per share of 8.0 pence, up from 6.0p the year before, and said it expects to recommend a total dividend for its current financial year of no less than the 22.0p paid out last year.
Mediclininc International was the worst FTSE 100 performer, down 3.8%, despite the private healthcare company reported a 27% increase in revenue for the first half of its financial year, primarily thanks to its acquisition of Al Noor In February.
Mediclinic reported revenue of GBP1.28 billion for the six months ended September 30, compared to the GBP1.01 billion posted the same period a year earlier, driving an increase in pretax profit to GBP148.0 million from GBP129.0 million. Within its Middle East division, in which the Abu-Dhabi based Al Noor hospital group has been integrated, Mediclinic said its revenue grew to GBP306.0 million from GBP129.0 million.
Meanwhile, Hikma Pharmaceuticals was down 1.1% after the drug maker trimmed its revenue expectations for 2016, now expecting to see a rise of 35% in constant currency to about USD2.00 billion for the full year. This is reduced from Hikma's previous guidance in August of between USD2.00 billion and USD2.10 billion, as a result of tempered revenue expectations for its Generics business.
In the FTSE 250, Aldermore Group was up 6.6%. The specialist lender said its capital position has improved in the third quarter and that levels of new lending also increased.
Aldermore reported that over the nine months to September 30 its net loans increased by 15% to GBP7.1 billion, from GBP6.1 billion at the end of 2015. It said the growth was driven by higher levels of new lending, increasing 20% to GBP2.3 billion from GBP1.9 billion in the same period the year before.
SuperGroup shares were up 6.3% after the owner of the Superdry clothing brand said its revenue surged in the first half, driven by positive momentum and a benefit from translating its overseas sales into sterling.
At the other end of the mid-cap index, bicycles and car parts retailer Halfords Group was down 3.0% after it reported a fall in pretax profit due to acquisition-related cost rises. Nevertheless, the group said revenue grew, and it remains on track for its full year.
In a thin economic calendar ahead, US initial and continuing jobless claims are at 1330 GMT.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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