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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Wednesday ahead to the Jackson Hole central bank summit later this week, while investors digested indicative index review changes from FTSE Russell.
The FTSE 100 index was up 13.69 points, or 0.2%, at 7,139.47. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 70.17 points, or 0.3%, at 23,956.21. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.3% at 1,275.74.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.2% at 709.41. The Cboe 250 was up 0.2% at 21,771.52, and the Cboe Small Companies was flat at 15,460.81.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 stock index in Paris was 0.8% higher, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.1%.
In the FTSE 100, British Land was up 1.5% after Liberum upgraded the property company to Buy from Hold.
Just Eat Takeaway was up 0.8%. The food ordering platform will employ 1,500 people in a new UK customer service site as it brings jobs back from India and Bulgaria.
Just Eat said it will invest GBP100 million in the region over the next five years, with staff working partly from home and partly from its new Sunderland-based office in the north east of England. UK Managing Director Andrew Kenny said that the company would shoulder the extra cost of bringing the staff in-house because it allowed Just Eat to provide better service.
Even as Just Eat is bringing jobs home to the UK, it is being ejected from the FTSE 100 index for being too Dutch.
FTSE Russell, after the market close Tuesday, said shares of the Anglo-Dutch company would be removed from the UK flagship index, having reassigned the company's nationality from the UK to the Netherlands and making the company ineligible for the FTSE UK Index Series.
As a result, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, with a market capitalisation of GBP5.85 billion, will take Just Eat's place in the FTSE 100. Dechra shares were flat on Wednesday.
In addition, FTSE Russell indicated that aerospace parts maker Meggitt and grocer Wm Morrison Supermarkets, with market values of GBP6.53 billion and GBP7.04 billion respectively, will be added to the FTSE 100.
Morrisons shares have risen 70% over the last six months as the Bradford-based grocer found itself the object of a protracted bidding war between private equity firms.
Meggitt and Morrisons will replace engineer Weir Group and broadcaster ITV in the FTSE 100, which have market capitalisations of GBP4.35 billion and GBP4.64 billion respectively.
Weir Group was the best blue-chip performer, up 2.8%, while ITV was up 0.8%.
The quarterly FTSE index review will use data from next Tuesday's close, with confirmed rebalance changes announced after the market close on Wednesday, September 1 - meaning the final results of the review could differ from these indicative changes.
The reshuffle will take effect on Monday, September 20.
At the other end of the large-caps, precious metals miners Fresnillo and Polymetal International were down 1.5% and 1.0% respectively, tracking spot gold prices lower.
Gold was quoted at USD1,793.65 an ounce Wednesday morning, lower against USD1,806.44 late Tuesday.
J Sainsbury was down 1.0% after Bank of America downgraded the supermarket chain, and rumoured takeover target, to Underperform from Neutral.
In the FTSE 250, Grafton Group was up 1.8%. The Irish building products distribution firm delivered record interim earnings as it benefited from ongoing demand for home improvement projects.
For the six months to June 30, revenue was GBP1.03 billion, up 46% from GBP703.7 million last year. Pretax profit was GBP142.9 million, almost five times higher than GBP29.5 million a year ago. Grafton also posted record adjusted operating profit of GBP142.4 million for the period, up from GBP46.9 million.
Grafton declared an interim dividend of 8.5 pence per share, which the company said reflects its strong profitability and cashflow from operations. The company paid no interim dividend for 2020, though it paid a 14.5p final dividend for the year.
Looking ahead, Grafton said the overall outlook is positive following the successful rollout of vaccines in the four countries where it operates. These countries are the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Finland.
In addition, Dublin-based Grafton maintained its full-year guidance and expects operating profit of GBP240 million in 2021. It posted operating profit of GBP159.7 million in 2020.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index ended flat. In China, the Shanghai Composite finished up 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.2%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.4%.
The dollar was subdued against major counterparts as investors look ahead to the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium later this week. The pound was quoted at USD1.3718 early Wednesday, a touch lower from USD1.3721 at the London equities close Tuesday.
The euro stood at USD1.1741, down from USD1.1747. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY109.73, up slightly from JPY109.67.
Brent oil was trading at USD70.96 a barrel Wednesday morning, up from USD70.73 late Tuesday.
The economic events calendar for Wednesday US durable goods orders at 1330 BST.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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