Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are called higher on Monday, ahead of a busy week of interest rate decisions and economic data.
There is UK unemployment data on Tuesday, a US inflation print on Wednesday and the European Central Bank's next interest rate decision on Thursday.
Over the weekend, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported that consumer prices in the country edged up slightly on an annual basis in August.
The consumer price index was 0.1% higher annually in August, compared to a 0.3% deflation in July. This underperformed against FXStreet-cited expectations, which anticipated a 0.2% increase.
There have been concerns about China's post-Covid recovery, as the country is dealing with weaker domestic spending and a fall in exports in recent months.
"The numbers remain alarmingly low, and the recent stimulus measures announced by the government did little to boost investors’ appetite," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
In early UK company news, Restaurant Group said it is selling its Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito chains for nominal GBP1 and paying the buyer GBP7.5 million to take it off its hands.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
----------
MARKETS
----------
FTSE 100: called up 0.4% at 7505.00
----------
Hang Seng: down 1.3% at 17,969.57
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.4% at 32,467.76
S&P/ASX 200: closed up 0.5% at 7,192.30
----------
DJIA: closed up 75.86 points, or 0.2%, at 34,576.59
S&P 500: closed up 6.35 points, 0.1%, at 4,457.49
Nasdaq Composite: closed up 12.69 points, 0.1%, at 13,761.52
----------
EUR: up at USD1.0732 (USD1.0715)
GBP: up at USD1.2516 (USD1.2477)
USD: down at JPY146.22 (JPY147.64)
Gold: up at USD1,927.54 per ounce (USD1,921.00)
(Brent): down at USD90.55 a barrel (USD90.70)
(changes since previous London equities close)
----------
ECONOMICS
----------
Monday's key economic events still to come:
Spain budget deficit
UK BoE MPC Member Catherine Mann speaks
09:00 BST UK BoE Chief Economist Huw Pill speaks
11:30 EDT US ABA issues biannual economic forecast
----------
Bosses of a raft of Britain's biggest retailers, such as Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Kingfisher's B&Q, have urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to freeze their property taxes to avoid a roughly GBP400 million hike. A group of 44 retail leaders have written to Hunt to halt an inflation-based increase to business rates bills, the property tax which affects the UK's high street firms. The letter, which has been co-ordinated by the British Retail Consortium, said a rise would be "threatening the viability of many shops and hindering the industry's capacity to invest". Bosses such as Tesco UK & Ireland chief executive officer Jason Tarry, J Sainsbury's chief executive Simon Roberts and Greggs's chief executive Roisin Currie backed the calls. Currently, business rates are planned to increase in April 2024 in line with the inflation figure for September. This figure is due to be announced in October and is currently forecast at about 6%.
----------
BROKER RATING CHANGES
----------
Exane BNP raises Prudential to 'neutral' (underperform) - price target 1,130 (1,080) pence
----------
RBC cuts Melrose Industries to 'sector perform' (outperform) - price target 540 (525) pence
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 100
----------
GSK said Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour & Welfare has accepted for review a new drug application for momelotinib, a potential new medicine with a differentiated mechanism of action that may address the significant medical needs of myelofibrosis patients, especially those with anaemia. Myelofibrosis is a blood cancer that can lead to splenomegaly; constitutional symptoms such as fatigue, night sweats, and bone pain; and severely low blood counts, including anaemia and thrombocytopenia. The NDA is based on data from the pivotal phase III trials Simplify-1 and Momentum, GSK said. Momelotinib is not currently approved in any market.
----------
AstraZeneca reported positive clinical results of combinations of its Imfinzi and Tagrisso drugs with other treatments for cancer. "Encouraging responses" were seen in patients with non-small cell lung cancer from the combination of datopotamab deruxtecan, which is being jointly developed with Daiichi Sankyo Co, and Imfinzi, whose generic name is durvalumab. Additionally, AstraZeneca on Monday presented at another medical symposium positive results from the Flaura2 phase III trial of Tagrisso, whose generic name is osimertinib, used in combination with chemotherapy on patients with NSCLC.
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 250
----------
Vistry said it has reported a "robust" financial performance in the first half of 2023, in line with expectations, despite challenging market conditions. Revenue in the period rose 33% to GBP1.58 billion from GBP1.19 billion a year earlier. Pretax profit edged up 2.6% to GBP114.2 million from GBP111.3 million. Looking ahead, Vistry said it intends to launch a share buyback of up to GBP55 million in November. Chief Executive Greg Fitzgerald said: "The integration of Countryside has progressed well in the first half, firmly establishing Vistry as the leading provider of affordable mixed tenure housing in the UK. The group delivered a robust half year performance despite the challenging macro-economic conditions with Partnerships continuing to see good demand, demonstrating its market resilience."
----------
Syncona said that it has been informed by Novartis that the development of GT005 in Geographic Atrophy secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration is to be discontinued. GT005 was previously the lead asset at Gyroscope. Novartis has been responsible for the development of GT005 since completing the acquisition of Gyroscope from Syncona in February 2022. Chris Hollowood, CEO of Syncona Investment Management, said: "We are naturally disappointed for patients following the decision to discontinue GT005, but we respect Novartis' decision. We remain focussed on our strategy of building and maintaining our portfolio of companies providing significant opportunities to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to our shareholders and to make a difference to the lives of patients with devastating diseases."
----------
OTHER COMPANIES
----------
Restaurant Group said it has signed an agreement to sell its Leisure business, comprising 75 trading sites and associated restaurant and management team employees, to Big Table Group. Restaurant Group will sell Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito chains for nominal GBP1 and pay the buyer GBP7.5 million to take it off its hands. The transaction is expected to complete at the start of the fourth quarter of this year. The board is continuing to actively explore its strategic options to further accelerate margin accretion and deleveraging, it said. On Friday, the restaurants and pub restaurants operator said Chair Ken Hanna will step down at the annual general meeting in 2024, having been in post only since the start of 2022.
----------
Burford Capital issued an update on proceedings in connection with the Petersen and Eton Park cases against the Republic of Argentina and YPF. It said that the court suggests a final judgement of about USD16 billion against Argentina and this signifies "a complete win against Argentina." Chief Investment Officer Jonathan Molot said: "We have been pursuing this case since 2015 and it has involved substantial Burford management time along with the dedicated engagement of a team of some of the best lawyers on the planet from multiple law firms and world-class experts (going up against very good lawyers, and winning)."
----------
By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
