LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks were higher in London on Friday while the pound was steady after days of heightened speculation over Theresa May's future as UK prime minister came to an end with the announcement of her resignation as Tory party leader. Among the stocks helping to keep London's leading index in the green at midday were Vodafone and Informa, while Royal Mail gained in the mid-cap FTSE 250.The FTSE 100 was up 47.17 points, or 0.7%, at 7,278.21 Friday midday. The FTSE 250 was up 87.54 points, or 0.5%, at 19,118.75. The AIM All-Share was up 0.2% at 959.80.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.7% at 12,338.01. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.5% at 17,205.22, with the Cboe UK Small Companies up 0.9% at 11,867.18."This morning's rebound appears to be predicated on a little profit taking ahead of a long bank holiday weekend and the US president keeping the door open that any new trade deal with China might involve measures to deal with the Huawei problem," commented Michael Hewson at CMC Markets. His administration last week put Huawei, which it has called a threat to national security, on a blacklist that effectively barred US firms from selling the Chinese company computer chips and other components without government approval.However, Trump on Thursday said: "I can imagine Huawei being included in some form of a trade deal." He offered no details but said any arrangement "would look very good for us, I can tell you that".Seeking to reduce America's trade deficit with the rest of the world and with China in particular, Trump has imposed import taxes on foreign steel, aluminium, solar panels and dishwashers and on thousands of Chinese products."On the surface this does appear to be a slight softening of tone by President Trump; however it doesn't mean we are any closer to a resolution," Hewson noted. Stocks in the US are pointed to a higher start on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all seen up 0.6%. In European equities, the CAC 40 index in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively.UK Prime Minister May, standing outside Number 10, confirmed Friday morning she will resign as leader of the Conservative Party in a fortnight, on June 7. May earlier on Friday had met the leader of the backbench Conservative committee, Graham Brady, to discuss her future after her authority was left in tatters following the backlash against her latest Brexit plan.May, who will remain as UK prime minister until a successor is chosen, said she has done her best to deliver Brexit."It is and will always remain a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit," May said adding that whoever replaces her as prime minister will have to find "consensus in Parliament where I have not".The pound embarked on a rollercoaster as May made her statement, gyrating above and below the USD1.27 mark to stand at USD1.2692 at midday. This still was up from USD1.2662 late Thursday."The news itself is not really that positive for the pound in that the next Tory leader will likely take a more hardline approach to Brexit and as such the chance of a no-deal outcome has increased," said David Cheetham at XTB.Turning away from May, Cheetham said: "Despite the ongoing political instability, consumer spending in the UK seems to be holding up ok."Year-on-year, UK retail sales volume in April rose 5.2%, with growth across all sectors except household goods, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. On a month-on-month basis, sales volumes were flat.This was slightly ahead of consensus, as cited by FXStreet, for retail sales to rise 4.6% on an annual basis in April and decline 0.3% month-on-month.In the three months to April, the volume of goods bought increased 1.8% sequentially with online clothing retailers driving this growth.In the FTSE 100 at midday, Vodafone was among the top gainers as it rose 2.2% following a broker rating upgrade. HSBC raised the telecommunications firm to Buy from Hold. Miner Anglo American also benefited from some ratings action, rising 1.8% after RBC Capital lifted the firm to Top Pick from Outperform. Informa rose 2.0% after the business events and publishing company said it remains confident in meeting its annual expectations. In the Markets unit, Informa said it saw a "strong" performance with North America and China performing particularly well, though there was some softness in the Middle East. The Connect conference division also delivered a good performance in the year-to-date and the Tech event unit saw "encouraging" trading. In the FTSE 250, Royal Mail gained 4.8% after Goldman Sachs raised the postal operator to Buy from Hold.Tarsus shares climbed 37% to 428.02 pence after it agreed to be bought out in a deal valuing the firm at GBP561 million. Tiger Acquisitions UK, a subsidiary of funds advised by private equity firm Charterhouse Capital Partners, will pay 425 pence per Tarsus share. This represents a 36% premium to Tarsus's closing price on Thursday.Tarsus's independent directors intend to unanimously recommend that shareholders approve the acquisition, and other major Tarsus shareholders also have pledged to approve the scheme.Mothercare shares were up 11% after the parenting products retailer reported a narrowed loss for its recently ended financial year amid a period of "major restructuring activity".Mothercare reported a pretax loss of GBP66.6 million for the 53 weeks to March 30 compared to the GBP94.0 million loss reported the year earlier, as operating costs were slashed by 29% to GBP47.3 million from GBP66.7 million. However, revenue also declined by 12% to GBP513.8 million from GBP580.6 million the year before, due to the chain's UK store closure programme."We have achieved a huge amount this year, refinancing, restructuring and reorganising Mothercare to ensure a sustainable future for the business," said Chief Executive Mark Newton-Jones. "Whilst this major restructuring activity has resulted in significant headline losses for the year, the business is now on a sounder financial footing."
14 Jan 2015 16:04
