SSE Share News (SSE)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Large-cap stocks in London are set to open lower on Thursday, amid a stronger pound and despite a merger announcement by Vodafone in Australia and clearance of an SSE unit merger in the UK.Mid-cap stocks could benefit from positive results reported early Thursday by FTSE 250 constituents WH Smith, Hays and Hunting.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 19.91 points lower at 7,543.30 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.7% at 7,563.21 on Wednesday.Sterling was quoted at USD1.3029 early Thursday, higher than USD1.2999 at the London equities close on Wednesday."Michel Barnier, the EU negotiator, confirmed he is keen to offer the UK a deal that has never been offered to another country. Sterling soared on the back of the announcement as traders perceived it as a compromise to the impasse in the Brexit discussions," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets. "The situation is far from solved, but for now traders are optimistic about the pound on the back of the news. Some people might argue that Brussels have become more accommodating in light of the increased chatter about the possibility of a 'no-deal Brexit'," he added.In a further hint of this, The Times reported that French President Emmanuel Macron aims to use an EU summit next month in Salzburg, Austria, to push for a new "alliance" between the bloc and Britain.A new Continental structure would see "concentric circles" with the EU and Euro at its core and the UK in a second ring, according to the newspaper.The claims emerged after the EU's chief negotiator Barnier struck an optimistic tone, stating: "We are prepared to offer Britain a partnership such as there never has been with any other third country."Blue-chip telecommunications group Vodafone agreed to an AUD15 billion merger of its Vodafone Australia subsidiary and internet service provider TPG Telecom.The new company will be called TPG Telecom Ltd, and will be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.The merger is expected to be completed next year and is subject to approval from regulators, including the competition watchdog. Also in the FTSE 100, drugmaker AstraZeneca said that the European Commission approved its once-weekly Bydureon BCise device for the treatment of patients with type-2 diabetes.The approval was supported by positive data from two clinical trials, DURATION-NEO-1 and NEO-2.Energy provider SSE noted the findings by the UK Competition & Markets Authority over the proposed merger of SSE Energy Services and npower, Innogy SE's retail business."Following a thorough and in-depth investigation, we are pleased the CMA has provisionally concluded that the proposed merger of SSE Energy Services and npower does not raise competition concerns. The scale and pace of change in the GB energy market continues to be significant and requires us to evolve to stay relevant, competitive and sustainable," said SSE Chief Executive Alistair Philips Davies.On the FTSE 250, books and stationery retailer WH Smith said it expects its performance for the year to the end of August to be in line with expectations.The Travel business saw a strong performance with good sales across all channels and new store openings, while cost savings and margin improvements have kept the High Street business in line with expectations.Energy services group Hunting reported a strong interim performance, as for the six months to the end of June, it swung to a pretax profit of USD38.0 million from a loss of USD25.5 million the year before.This was on top of revenue that grew by 39% to USD442.8 million from USD318.1 million, due to strong activity in US onshore shale basins and improved offshore sentiment in the North America region.Hunting will pay an interim dividend of 4.0 cents per share versus none the prior year.Recruiter Hays also produced a positive performance for its recently ended financial year. Pretax profit for the year to the end of June rose by 17% to GBP238.5 million from GBP204.6 million the prior year.This was on net fees that grew by 12% to GBP1.07 billion from GBP954.6 million, and revenue that rose to GBP5.75 billion from GBP5.08 billion the prior year, with positive conditions in all of its markets.The economic events calendar on Thursday has unemployment and inflation data from Germany at 0855 BST and 1300 BST respectively, UK mortgage approvals at 0930 BST, eurozone consumer confidence at 1000 BST, and US personal consumption expenditure data at 1330 BST. The core PCE is the Fed's preferred inflation measure.In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 0.2%, the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Nasdaq Composite closing 1.0% higher.The Commerce Department reported that real gross domestic product climbed by 4.2% in the second quarter compared to the previously reported 4.1 increase. The pace of growth had been expected to be downwardly revised to 4.0%.With the unexpected upward revision, the GDP growth in the second quarter reflects a significant acceleration from the 2.2% advance in the first quarter.US President Donald Trump voiced optimism that a trade deal with Canada could be reached before his self-imposed Friday deadline, as representatives of the two countries were meeting in Washington for marathon talks."I think Canada very much wants to make a deal," he said on Wednesday at the White House, adding that they were "on track" for sealing it this week.He left open the option of no deal with Canada but added that it would be good for the northern neighbour to reach an agreement. He said talks so far were going "really well."However, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there is a "possibility" of a trade deal being reached with the US this week, he also said that no deal is better than agreeing to a bad deal, broadcaster CBC reported.The US reached a deal with Mexico this week, and now Washington is pressuring the last member of NAFTA to sign on to the agreement or face tariffs on cars.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 1.0%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is also down 1.0%.