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LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in London were weaker early Monday as market participants digested the implications of the terrorist attacks in Paris late Friday.

Gold miners Rangold Resources and Fresnillo were up 2.9% and 1.6%, respectively, as investors bought gold as a safe haven. Meanwhile, travel-related firms IAG, TUI, IHG, easyJet and Carnival all were down by more than 3%.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.3% at 6,101.55
FTSE 250: down 0.5% at 16,686.11
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 732.08
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Hang Seng: closed down 1.7% at 22,010.82
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.0% at 19,393.69
DJIA: closed down 1.2% at 17,245.24
S&P 500: closed down 1.1% at 2,023.04
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GBP: flat at USD1.5197 (USD1.5200)
EUR: up at USD1.0754 (USD1.0727)

GOLD: higher at USD1,095.60 per ounce (USD1,082.40)
OIL (Brent): firm at USD44.65 a barrel (USD44.48)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)

10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
10:15 EU ECB President Draghi's Speech
13:30 US NY Empire State Manufacturing Index
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One of the suspects in the Paris terrorist attacks was stopped by police driving through northern France but not detained, a report said, as security forces carried out more raids in the suburbs of the capital. Salah Abdeslam, 26, was stopped in a car with two others amid tightened border controls Saturday after the attacks that killed 129 people, the newspaper Le Monde reported late Sunday. Belgium, where he was already known to the authorities, has since issued an international arrest warrant for him.
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The US will work with France to "intensify" airstrikes against the Islamic State group, a top White House official says. "There is going to have to be an intensification of our efforts," Deputy National Security Advisory Ben Rhodes tells NBC's Meet the Press in an interview. "We're confident in the coming days and weeks, working with the French, we'll be able to intensify our strikes against ISIL in both Syria and Iraq," he says, referring to Islamic State.
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Leaders from the Group of 20 largest and emerging world economies showed determination Sunday to fight terrorism at a summit that began less than 48 hours after the deadly attacks in Paris. The leaders are expected to issue a joint statement on the fight against terrorism on Monday, the last day of the two-day summit being held in Turkey. One of their key pledges will be a crackdown on networks that finance terrorism, said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. Fabius was representing France at the summit after President Francois Hollande cancelled his participation.
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Japan's economy entered a technical recession in the third quarter largely due to weak corporate investment, strengthening calls for additional monetary stimulus. Gross domestic product declined by an annualized 0.8% in the third quarter, data published by the Cabinet Office revealed. Technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction in GDP. The economy had contracted 0.7% in the second quarter, which was revised from previously estimated 1.2% fall. The rate of decline in the third quarter GDP was bigger than the expected 0.2% fall. Nonetheless, Economy Minister Akira Amari said he expects the economy to recover in the fourth quarter.
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House prices in the UK decreased in November, the latest house price balance from property tracking website Rightmove showed. The house price index fell 1.3% month-over-month in November, which was the smallest drop since 2011. In contrast, prices grew 0.6% in the prior month. On annual basis, house prices climbed 6.2% in November. That follows the 5.6% rise in October.
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The EU and Australia have agreed to launch free trade talks, both sides announced in the Turkish city of Antalya, ahead of the summit of the 20 world leading economies. "We agreed to commence work toward the launch of negotiations for a free trade agreement," EU President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a joint statement following talks.
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EU governments and the European Parliament reached an agreement on their bloc's 2016 budget, paving the way for EUR143.9 billion in spending. "The budget agreed today is a concrete expression of solidarity both within the EU and with third countries," Luxembourg Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna, whose country currently holds the bloc's presidency, said in a statement Saturday.
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After the European Commission ruling that multinationals received unfair tax benefits in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Ireland is braced for an EC ruling on whether its taxation treatment of technology company Apple constituted state aid. "I don't know what the outcome will be, but this is the first time, as far as I am aware, that the commission is scrutinizing the revenue authorities in applying national laws rather than the scrutinizing national laws to ensure compatibility with regulations," says Brian Keegan, Director of Taxation at Chartered Accountants Ireland.
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A report by the International Monetary Fund recommended Friday that the crisis lender include the Chinese renminbi among the currencies that the Washington-based organization uses as a measure of value. The IMF's so-called currency basket is a daily average of the market exchange rates of the dollar, euro, yen and pound sterling, which is more stable than any of the individual major currencies alone. The renminbi would be added to the existing four, if the IMF's board approves the proposal on November 30.
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Russia has signalled its willingness to carry out reforms on anti-doping measures amid the threat of its track and field athletes being barred from competing at the 2016 Olympics. Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said he expected Russia would be competing at the Rio Olympics despite the decision by ruling athletics body IAAF to provisionally suspend the country's federation over doping. Russian Olympic Committee chief Alexander Zhukov meanwhile made a number of undertakings on doping reforms after a meeting with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: MACQUARIE RAISES SAINSBURY TO 'NEUTRAL' ('UNDERPERFORM')
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TRADERS: MERRILL LYNCH RAISES AVIVA TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 580 (550)PENCE
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TRADERS: DEUTSCHE BANK CUTS WOLSELEY TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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TRADERS: NOMURA CUTS RESTAURANT GROUP TO 'REDUCE' ('NEUTRAL')
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TRADERS: JEFFERIES CUTS SPIRE HEALTHCARE TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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BERENBERG RAISES HALFORDS GROUP TO 'HOLD' ('SELL') - TARGET 375 (430) PENCE
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TRADERS: LIBERUM INITIATES BROOKS MACDONALD WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 2,200 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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BT Group said Joe Garner, the chief executive officer of its Opeanreach division, is stepping down to take up the role of chief executive officer of building society Nationwide. Garner is expected to take up the new role in the spring of 2016, after handing over to his successor, who the company said would be named in"due course."
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Vodafone Group said users of its Vodafone Wallet payment product will now be able to pay for goods and services contactlessly using their MasterCard cards, a service which will launch for customers in European markets "within weeks". Vodafone Wallet is currently available in Germany, Spain, the UK, Italy, The Netherlands and Hungary.
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Taylor Wimpey continued the string of good news from the UK housebuilding sector as it said the market has continued to be very positive and its sales rate has increased in the second half. Taylor said high levels of customer confidence and demand have been converted into increased sales and healthy sales price growth, boosted by a wide range of mortgage products currently available and tighter lending requirements, keeping monthly payments sustainable and affordable. Thanks to the robust market and its strong performance, Taylor Wimpey said it expects its operating profit margin to improve by 200 basis points in 2015.
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Defence and aerospace components company Meggitt said its Secureplane Technologies subsidiary has won a contract to provide high-definition cameras for Gulfstream G650 jets. Meggitt did not provide financial details on the agreement but said the "multi-million dollar" deal will cover a system which will be fitted as standard on all future G650 jets and offered as a retrofit for aircraft currently in service.
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AstraZeneca has called on the UK government to develop a new model for incentivising investment in antibiotics and warned on the "terrible human cost" of the rise in drug-resistant infections, the Financial Times reported. In a letter to the FT, the pharmaceuticals company joined others in the life sciences sector in pushing the UK to pursue a new system rather than waiting for an international agreement to be sealed.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Oil services company Petrofac said it has secured the engineering, procurement and construction contract for a sulphur recovery plant as part of Saudi Aramco's Fadhili gas programme. Fadhili is a greenfield development west of Jubail in Saudi Arabia. The gas plant on the site will have capacity of around 2.5 billion cubic feet of gas and will process sour gas from the Khursaniyah oil field and the Hasbah gas field.
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Oil and gas explorer Premier Oil said it has struck a deal to sell its Norwegian assets to Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA for USD120.0 million in cash. The FTSE 250-listed company said the proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down debt. It expects the deal to complete by the end of the year. Det Norske Oljeselskap is a Norwegian oil and gas explorer.
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Building products company SIG said trading improved in October, following the profit warning it issued last month as it was hit by sluggish conditions in its key markets. The group had downgraded its underlying operating profit guidance for all of 2015 to GBP85.0 million to GBP90.0 million, down from the GBP98.1 million it made a year earlier. On Monday, the group said trading had improved in October and affirmed that reduced full-year guidance.
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Diploma said its pretax profit and revenue edged higher in its recently-ended financial year, albeit as sales were held back in the second half by softer industrial markets and cost-cutting in the healthcare sector. The technical products and services company said its pretax profit for the year to the end of September was GBP51.8 million, compared to GBP49.8 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP333.8 million from GBP305.8 million. The group will pay a final dividend of 12.4 pence per share, up 7.0% year-on-year, bringing its total dividend up to 18.2p from 17.0p.
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Ground engineering company Keller Group said it is on track to meet market expectations for 2015 after an in-line second half so far. The company, which provides engineering services for ground structures, primarily for construction projects but also for underground structures, said said overall trading in the four months to the end of October had been in line with its expectations. Keller said its order book at the end of October was around 20% higher year-on-year, or up 15% on a like-for-like basis.
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International Public Partnerships said it has raised a total of GBP180.0 million via a placing, open offer and subscription which was "very significantly" oversubscribed. The infrastructure project investor said it issued a total of 137.1 million shares at 131.25 pence per share to cover the three tranches of the issue.
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Telecity Group said late Friday the European Commission has granted clearance for Equinix to acquire the company after Equinix agreed to dispose of some assets over competition concerns. Equinix struck a deal to takeover Telecity back in May in a deal worth around GBP2.35 billion in cash. The European Commission launched a period of market testing back in October and on Friday issued phase one clearance to Equinix to push forward with the deal.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Glanbia said it is buying California-based protein bar maker thinkThin LLC for USD217 million in cash. The nutrition group said the US acquisition will increase Glanbia Performance Nutrition's presence in the bar category and provide exposure to the nutrition bar segment. Glanbia will fund the acquisition from its existing debt facilities and expects it to complete before the end of the 2015 financial year. It anticipates the transaction to be marginally earnings accretive in 2016.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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The race to buy General Electric's Japanese commercial-lending business is nearing the finish line with two bidders remaining, the Wall Street Journal reported citing a person familiar with the matter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group's leasing arm and Shinsei Bank will both continue discussions with GE to buy the Japanese operation, after submitting binding bids this month. The bids valued the GE commercial-lending and leasing operation at about USD5 billion, the report said.
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French engineering giant Alstom was sentenced by a US court to pay a USD772.29 million fine to resolve criminal charges related to a widespread corruption scheme involving at least USD75 million in secret bribes paid to government officials in countries around the world, including Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Bahamas and Taiwan.
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Avation
Capital Lease Aviation
Tanfield Group
Jupiter Primadona Growth Trust 
Transense Tech
Wolf Minerals
Impellam Group
Scapa Group
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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