STOB.L Share News (STOB)

LONDON (Alliance News) - London share prices were higher at midday on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 supported by weakness in the pound, which slipped following uninspiring UK inflation data.The FTSE 100 index was up 0.4%, or 28.63 points, at 7,732.44 at midday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 0.2% at 21,291.95. The AIM All-Share index was flat at 1.101.55.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 13,112.24, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 19,468.81, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.2% at 12,907.68."The pound continued to stumble over every obstacle placed in its way this week, the currency falling following a disappointing - if expected - inflation reading," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.On the London Stock Exchange, Glencore was among the best blue-chip performers, up 2.7% after the miner and commodities trader reached a settlement with the Democratic Republic of the Congo's state mining company.The Switzerland-headquartered miner said its subsidiary Katanga Mining has agreed with Gecamines a number of remedies which will see the latter drop all legal proceedings. Gecamine had been seeking either a wind-up of the Kamoto Copper Co joint venture, held 75% by Katanga and the rest by Gecamines, due to the partnership's capital issues. To remedy this, Katanga and Gecamines have agreed USD5.60 billion out of Kamoto's USD9 billion debt will be converted into equity. Further, Kamoto will waive its entitlement to replacement reserves and incurred drilling costs on Gecamines' behalf, amounting to a total of USD342 million.At the other end of the large cap index, online takeaway platform Just Eat was the worst performer, down 10%, amid UK expansion plans by rival Deliveroo. The Guardian newspaper reported late Tuesday that Deliveroo intends to sign up 5,000 more UK eateries. Just Eat recently said it was planning to launch its own delivery fleet in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, competing with Deliveroo. Until now, Just Eat has relied on restaurants to make their own deliveries, whereas Deliveroo is know for its ubiquitous bicycle couriers.Deliveroo fired back with its own UK expansion plans expecting to add 5,000 UK eateries to its network as well as employ "thousands" of more couriers to its existing team of 15,000 riders.In addition, Deliveroo plans to offer restaurants with their own delivery the option of using Deliveroo's couriers at busy times. As such, Deliveroo's new service would enable users to choose from 50% more restaurants, The Guardian noted.In the FTSE 250, Stobart Group was the best performer at midday up 8.3% after Irish budge airline Ryanair Holdings said it will open a new base at London Southend Airport from April next year to deliver one million guests annually. Ryanair inked a five-year deal with the midcap support services firm - which owns the airport in Essex, east of London. The contract can be extended to ten years.The airline plans to invest USD300 million into three aircraft based at London Southend Airport and introduce 13 new routes to eight European countries. Ryanair shares were up 0.3%.TalkTalk Telecom Group shares were up 7.5% after Merrill Lynch double upgraded the home phone and internet services provider to Buy from Underperform. At the other end of the midcaps, Dixons Carphone was down 3.9% after the mobile phone and electrical goods retailer admitted to a data breach of its payment processing systems.Dixons Carphone said it added extra security measures and engaged with cyber security experts after hackers attempted to gain unauthorised access to its systems and data.The company said there was an attempt to compromise 5.9 million bank cards in one of the processing systems of its Currys PC World and Dixons Travel stores. As a result, the company said about 105,000 non-EU issued payment cards which do not have chip and pin protection have been compromised. Dixons currently has no evidence that any fraudulent activity took place, but it informed the relevant authority about the incident.In addition, 1.2 million records containing non-financial personal data, such as names, residential addresses and email address, were accessed. The pound was marginally lower against the dollar at USD1.3340 compared to USD1.3354 at the London equities close Tuesday, following lacklustre UK inflation data.UK inflation remained stable in May, the Office for National Statistics reported.Consumer price inflation held steady at 2.4%, the lowest since March 2017, and in line with expectations. Month-on-month, consumer prices gained 0.4% in May, matching economists' expectations.Core inflation excluding energy, food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco also remained stable in May, at 2.1%.At the same time, output price inflation climbed to 2.9% annually, as expected, from 2.5%. Month-on-month, prices registered a steady increase of 0.4%, while economists had forecast a 0.3% rise."[Bank of England] Governor Mark Carney will remain hopeful that inflation will return to target without the need for any further tightening of policy and with the inflationary pressures of the sterling's post-Brexit vote drop still expected to decline in the coming months the bank may well stand pat for the foreseeable future," said XTB chief market analyst David Cheetham.In addition, UK house price inflation eased further in April to the lowest level in just over a year, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed.The house price index climbed 3.9% year-over-year in April, slower than March's 4.2% rise. The average UK house price was GBP227,000 in April, which was GBP9,000 higher than in the same month of the prior year and GBP3,000 lower than a month ago.On a regional basis, London remained the region with the highest average house price at GBP485,000, followed by the South East and the East of England.In Paris the CAC 40 was up 0.3%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.2%. The euro was a touch lower against the dollar at USD1.1762 compared to USD1.1783 at the European equities close Tuesday.In economic news, eurozone industrial production fell more sharply than expected in April at 1.7% compared to 3.0% in March, on an annual basis. Economists had expected the figure to come in at 2.8%. Stocks in New York are set to open higher ahead of the interest rate decision from the US Federal Reserve at 1900 BST followed by a press conference with Chairman Jerome Powell.The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points as its two-day policy meeting draws to a close. With the hike, the federal funds rate is expected to be in a range of 1.75% to 2.0%."Markets have almost fully priced in a rate hike today which, assuming the central bank does as expected, should draw attention instead to the new economic projections. The central bank has previously indicated that three rate hikes this year is likely but with the inflation picking up, the economy performing well and tax reforms having added an additional stimulus this year, a fourth could be on the cards," said Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam.The DJIA was called up 0.1%, the S&P 500 index up 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%.Still to come in the economic events calendar are US producer prices at 1330 BST and EIA crude oil stocks at 1530 BST.