(Alliance News) - Stocks in London were broadly higher early Friday, after China said it wants a trade deal with US, though it did not shy away from fighting talk, and Land Securities and Rightmove both announced key executive changes.
The FTSE 100 index of London large-cap stocks was 59.31 points higher, or 0.8%, at 7,297.86 on Friday morning. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was 15.20 points up, or 0.1%, at 20,385.06, but the AIM All-Share was 0.2% higher at 904.07.
The Cboe UK 100 index was 1.0% higher at 12,383.68. The Cboe UK 250 was 0.5% up early on Friday at 18,354.37, but the Cboe UK Small Companies was marginally lower at 11,272.21.
Property developer Land Securities was 0.6% higher after it said Mark Allan will join as chief executive after leaving his role as CEO of St Modwen Properties in May next year. Allan was formerly was the CEO of student accommodation provider Unite Group between 2006 and 2016, Landsec noted.
He is to join the FTSE 100 firm "no later than June 1, 2020", Landsec added.
St Modwen, down 1.5%, making it one of the worst FTSE 250 performers, said it was "disappointed" to lose Allan but has begun the process to replace him.
Also making a key executive change was real estate firm Rightmove, up 1.0% in early dealings, naming Andrew Fisher as non-executive chair with effect on January 1. He is currently a non-executive director at retailer Marks & Spencer and insurance comparison site Moneysupermarket.com, and was formerly executive chair at music recognition mobile app Shazam.
FTSE 250 gambling software firm Playtech was down 1.8% early on Friday after it warned adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation will be "a little below consensus" in 2019.
The company, which provides betting terminals for the likes of Labrokes and Paddy Power, said: "Following a positive start to the second half, trading conditions in TradeTech have been highly challenging during September and October."
However, Playtech said trading in its Core B2B Gambling and Snaitech arms "continues to exceed management expectations, while trading in Asia has remained stable". Revenue in Regulated B2B Gambling was up 12% on a year before in the four months from July to October.
Also issuing a full-year earnings warning was Coats Group, down 11% and languishing at the foot of the FTSE 250 index.
On the back of a "slower sales performance", the industrial threads maker is now guiding for adjusted operating profit between USD196 million and USD201 million.
Adjusted operating profit in 2018 came in at USD195 million.
Elsewhere on the London Main Market, investment manager Brooks Macdonald said it will part with up to GBP39 million in cash to acquire Edinburgh-based Cornelian Asset Managers.
Brooks said: "The total net consideration is expected to be up to GBP39 million, with initial consideration being GBP31 million, of which GBP22 million will be paid in cash and GBP9m in Brooks Macdonald shares."
Brooks will launch a share placing to raise GBP30 million. The firm will price its shares at 1,775 pence apiece. The stock was down 1.9% at 1,790.0 pence each.
Pharma giant AstraZeneca edged 1.0% higher following Thursday's late news that its drug Calquence had been approved in the US for adults patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma.
The approval by the US Food & Drug Administration results from positive analyses from two phase 3 clinical trials, Elevate-TN in patients with previously untreated CLL and Ascend in patients with relapsed or refractory CLL.
In European equities, the CAC 40 index in Paris was up 0.6% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt also 0.6% higher.
Stocks in the US ended in the red on Thursday. The S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite all closed 0.2% lower.
Stocks in Asia were mixed on Friday, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.3% higher in Tokyo, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.5% higher in late trade. The Shanghai Composite closed 0.6% lower in China.
"Global markets remained focused on US-China trade negotiations, taking a modicum of comfort on reports that Chinese VP Liu has invited US Trade Rep Lighthizer to Beijing for further talks," Lloyds bank research said.
On Friday, President Xi Jinping said China wanted to hammer out a deal but was "not afraid" to fight back when necessary. He told former US officials and other foreign dignitaries at a meeting in Beijing that he wanted to "work for a phase-one agreement on the basis of mutual respect and equality".
The remarks came two days after Donald Trump complained Beijing had not made sufficient concessions so far, making him reluctant to conclude a bargain.
Mining stocks in London received a slight uptick following the latest trade war developments.
Antofagasta topped the blue-chip index, rising 2.5% early on Friday. Glencore was just behind, 2.4% higher, with BHP and Rio Tinto both up 1.7%.
A slew of flash PMI readings will provide some distraction from the trade tit-for-tat, with manufacturing and services numbers from Japan, Germany, the eurozone, the UK and the US.
In Japan, the Jibun Bank flash composite PMI registered a slight rise in November but pointed to a "strongly possibility" the country's economy will contract in the fourth quarter.
The flash composite purchasing manager's index read 49.9 in November, up from October's actual figure of 49.1. The flash manufacturing PMI showed a slight rise to 48.6 in November from 48.4 the previous month, while the flash services PMI indicated a rise into expansionary territory, increasing to 50.4 from 49.7.
In Germany, the flash composite PMI was 49.2 in November, up from 48.9 in October. The manufacturing PMI improved, but services slipped a bit.
The eurozone reading is due at 0900 GMT, before the UK reading at 0930 GMT.
"We look for a small decline in the November manufacturing PMI to 49.0, but a rise in the services PMI to 50.5. These numbers remain consistent with flat or slightly negative quarterly growth," Lloyds said, ahead of the UK print.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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