LONDON (Alliance News) - Uk stocks are trading broadly higher Thursday mid-morning, with mining stocks leading the FTSE 100 and TSB Banking Group shares topping the FTSE 250, as investors await US retail sales data to be released this afternoon.
The FTSE 100 is up 0.7% at 6,769.3.3, while the FTSE 250 is up 0.3% at 17,001.26. The AIM All-Share is trading up 0.8% at 717.38.
European indices are down, with the French CAC 40 down 0.2% and the German DAX 30 down 0.1%.
Mining stocks are pulling up the blue-chip index, recovering from their losses on Wednesday. Fresnillo is the best performer, up 3.7%. Antofagasta is up 2.5%, Rio Tinto up 2.2%, Anglo American up 2.1%, Randgold Resources up 2% and Glencore up 1.6%.
Antofagasta Thursday said it has reached an agreement to resolve protests near its operations in Chile, and said normal operations will begin in "the coming days". The miner said the impact of the protests in its Los Pelambres mine in Chile will be around 8,000 tonnes of lost copper production in 2015, but said it will try to mitigate the impact over the year when operations recommence soon.
The gold price is quoted Thursday mid-morning at USD1,160.01, up on the day.
Ilya Spivak, currency strategist at DailyFX, says traders are looking ahead to the US retail sales report due at 1230 GMT. Spivak says that, though last week?s payrolls data were strong, US economic newsflow has tended to underperform relative to expectations since late December.
"This warns that analysts may be overestimating the economy?s vigour and opening the door for a downside surprise. Such an outcome may cool Fed rate hike speculation, weighing on the US dollar," she says.
The euro is slightly higher against the dollar Thursday morning, trading at USD1.0594, amid the on-going rally in the US currency against its major counterparts.
Menawhile, the UK visible trade deficit narrowed largely due to a fall in oil imports in January, data published by the Office for National Statistics showed Thursday. The visible trade deficit narrowed to GBP8.4 billion in January from GBP9.9 billion in December. The shortfall was forecast to decline to GBP9.6 billion.
Exports decreased by GBP1 billion and imports declined by GBP2.5 billion. The fall in imports was the largest monthly decrease since July 2006.
The pound rose after the trade data release reaching USD1,5002, and is quoted now at USD1.4985.
Eurozone industrial production declined unexpectedly in January, data from Eurostat revealed Thursday. Industrial production fell 0.1% in January from December, which was the first fall in five months. Economists had forecast output to grow 0.2% after rising 0.3% in December. On a yearly basis, industrial production growth doubled to 1.2% from 0.6% in December. The growth rate was expected to decelerate to 0.1%.
French consumer prices declined for the second straight month in February, the statistical office Insee showed Thursday. Consumer prices dropped 0.3% on a yearly basis in February, marking the second consecutive fall. Economists had forecast prices to fall again by 0.4% as registered in January. Inflation turned negative in January for the first time since October 2009 and it matched the 0.4% fall seen in September 2009.
Meanwhile, the German consumer price index was in line with the market expectations in February. Month-on-month, the data was at 0.9%, after a 1.1% decline in January. Year-on-year, data rose 0.1%, against a previous reading of a 0.4% drop.
Among individual London stocks, ITV is up 1.2%, after it said Thursday it has agreed to acquire buy Dutch media tycoon John De Mol Jr's production company Talpa Media for an initial cash consideration of around EUR500 million, funded from its existing cash resources and new debt facilities. The maximum consideration ITV will pay for the Netherlands-based production firm is up to EUR1.1 billion, contingent on Talpa delivering "significant profit growth" over an eight-year period, and de Mol's continued commitment to the business during this period.
Nomura says the maximum amount of EUR1.1 billion is more than the broker expected ITV to pay. Nomura had forecast a total payment around EUR700 million. Nomura adds that, though the market did not expect John de Mol to be "tied in" until 2022, it is a positive decision due to the his strong track record of creating hit shows.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets is one of the worst performers in the FTSE 100, down 0.5%. The UK's fourth-largest grocer by market share reported a widened loss for its last financial year, as revenue fell as it lost customers to rivals and it was forced to invest heavily in lowering prices, and it also booked a massive writedown on property. The company raised its dividend for the last year by 5%, meeting a commitment it had given last March, but suggested it will cut the payout sharply in the current financial year as it preserves cash to spend on its turnaround efforts.
In the FTSE 250, TBS Banking Group shares have jumped 26% up after the company confirmed it has received a preliminary takeover offer of 340 pence per share from Spanish banking group Banco de Sabadell. The offer values TSB at GBP1.70 billion.
TSB said its board has indicated to Sabadell that it would be willing to recommend an offer at the proposed price, subject to the pair reaching agreements on other terms and conditions of the offer, on which the board has now entered talks with Sabadell.
In the other side, Soco International is the worst performer in the mid-cap index, down 26%. The oil and gas company reported a huge reduction in profit in 2014, after its revenue fell due to lower oil prices and lower production and it took significant impairments, causing the company to slash its dividend nearly in half.
Soco also warned that production will fall again in 2015, and it is expecting oil prices throughout the year to be below what it achieved in 2014, suggesting the company will have a difficult year ahead of it.
Still in the economic calendar, US import and export price indices, retail sales and initial jobless claims are due at 1230 GMT. At 1245 GMT, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney gives a speech in Sheffield at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.
Us futures point to a higher opening, with the DJIA, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100, pointed up 0.2%.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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