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LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in London were higher Tuesday midday with a weaker dollar pushing gold and oil prices higher and miners leading the gainers in the FTSE 100.
"The bulls are back in charge, after what promised to be a worrying week now looks likely to result in yet another blockbuster week for the FTSE," said IG analyst Joshua Mahony. "We are now in a position where sentiment is bullish by default and thus it seems like it will take something hugely significant to knock the indices off their stride."
The FTSE 100 was up 0.3%, or 21.51 points, at 6,375.03. The blue-chip index touched a new 2016 high at 6,418.25, a level it hasn't seen since early December.
The FTSE 250 was up 1.1% at 17,074.97 and the AIM All-Share was up 0.3% at 735.47 points.
A recovery in the oil price has been the main support for stocks Tuesday. Crude prices slid early Monday to recover all the ground lost afterwards. The decline followed the failed production freeze agreement in Doha on Sunday. However, the negative sentiment was counterbalanced by an oil workers strike that is disrupting production in Kuwait.
Brent oil was at USD43.69 a barrel at midday, having been at USD43.18 a barrel just after the London equities close on Monday.
"The stabilisation of oil prices close to the levels seen in the run-up to Sunday's Doha meeting of the major producers helped to support a broad risk-on mood among Asian equities, especially in Japan," noted Lloyds Bank economist Jonathan Thomas.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo closed up 3.7%, recovering from its 3.4% loss on Monday following the earthquake that hit the island of Kyushu. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.3%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed up 1.3%.
FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada said: "The significantly weaker dollar has helped to underpin several buck-denominated precious metals and commodities of late, including gold, silver and crude oil."
Gold was quoted at USD1,242.80 an ounce at midday, compared to the USD1,234.77 an ounce at the close Monday. Silver was at USD16.68 an ounce, higher than the USD16.21 on Monday.
The pound was trading at USD1.4362 against the dollar at midday, against USD1.4263 at the close Monday, while the euro was at USD1.1331, compared to USD1.1319 on Monday.
Miners were atop the FTSE 100, with Fresnillo up 3.3%, Anglo American up 3.1% and BHP Billiton up 2.6%, benefiting from a rise in metals prices.
European stocks also were performing well, with the CAC 40 in Paris up 1.1% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt up 2.2%.
German economic confidence strengthened for the second straight month in April, survey results from the ZEW-Centre for European Economic Research showed. The Indicator of Economic Sentiment rose more than expected to 11.2, whilst it was forecast to rise to 8.0.
Stocks in New York were called for a positive open, with the Dow 30 seen up 0.4%, the S&P 500 pointed up 0.5% and the Nasdaq 100 seen up 0.8%.
Tuesday's corporate calendar in the US looks busy, with financial firm Goldman Sachs and pharmaceutical goods manufacturer Johnson & Johnson reporting first-quarter results before the US market open, while technology companies Yahoo and Intel will publish the same after the US close.
In the economic calendar, US housing starts and building permits are at 1330 BST, before Bank of England Governor Mark Carney speaks before the Lords Economic Affairs Committee at 1530 BST.
Elsewhere in London, shares in food, ingredients and retail group Associated British Foods was up 2.5%. The company reported growth in profit in the first half of its financial year but slightly lower revenue due to unfavourable foreign exchange rates, but said it no longer expects currency translations to have a "material impact" on its full-year results.
AB Foods, which owns discount fashion retailer Primark, said its pretax profit in the 24 weeks ended February 27 grew to GBP457 million from GBP213 million in the same period the year before, as it didn't book any exceptional items in the period.
Revenue, however, retreated by 2% to GBP6.12 billion from GBP6.25 billion, although this would have grown by 2% on a constant currency basis, AB Foods said. AB Foods will pay an interim dividend of 10.3 pence per share, which is up 3% year-on-year.
Information services company Experian was up 1.3% after saying it agreed to buy CSIdentity, a US provider of consumer identity management and fraud detection services, for USD360.0 million in cash from private equity and other investors, management and employees.
Experian said its earnings will receive an immediate boost from the acquisition, which will be funded with bank borrowings already in place, and highlighted the "significant" opportunities for "cost synergies" over the next four years. The US identity protection market is estimated to be a USD1.6 billion industry, according to Experian.
Cruise operator Carnival was among the worst blue-chip performers, down 1.0%, after the group said late Thursday that the start of its cruises to Cuba may be delayed. Carnival said it is continuing talks with Cuba to allow its ships to operate in the same manner as current air charter operations, which transport Cuba-born individuals to and from Cuba.
In the FTSE 250, Telecom Plus, the utility services provider, was up 5.6%, after it said it is confident in meeting its adjusted pretax profit guidance for the financial year that ended in March.
Aerospace and defence components company Meggitt was up 5.6% after it said trading in the first quarter met its expectations, with solid performances in its civil aerospace and defence arms offset by weakness in its energy unit. The in-line trading soothed investors concerns following the damaging profit warning Meggitt issued in late 2015.
Meanwhile, AVEVA Group, the engineering software company, was up 4.3%. It said it anticipates revenue and adjusted pretax profit, stripping out exceptional items, will broadly meet market expectations for the year to the end of March.
The group did note, however, the adjusted pretax profit had taken a hit in March from the weakening of the dollar. AVEVA said its focus remains on ensuring it has allocated its resources as efficiently as possible as the market pressures on the oil and gas and mining industries continue.
In AIM, shares in Webis Holdings more than doubled in value. The gaming company and racetrack operator said its WatchandWager.com subsidiary has extended its deal with the French Pari Muteul Urbain to provide customers access to betting directly in French horseracing pools. The deal will also include video streaming of French racing for WatchandWager.com customers, Webis said.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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