LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London edged upwards early Friday, as the FTSE 100 looked to rack up a seventh consecutive weekly gain.London's mid-cap index, the FTSE 250, was outperforming the blue-chip index in early trade as
ZPG shot up 30% after agreeing to be taken back private in a GBP2.2 billion deal just four years after its 2014 IPO. The FTSE 100 index was up 0.1%, or 4.26 points, at 7,705.23 early Friday, having hit a high of 7,712.13 at the open, its best level since late January. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 0.4%, or 83.68 points at 20,783.09. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.1% at 1,078.69.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.1% at 13,062.61. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.4% at 19,019.85, and the Cboe UK Small Companies up 0.1% at 12,679.63.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were down 0.2% and flat respectively.The higher open in London comes "after Wall St rallied back to positive territory for 2018 and Asian bourses climbed further (best week since Feb), sentiment buoyed by confirmation of a 12 June US-NK summit," said Michael van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.0%."Note metals like gold and copper up off recent lows despite stronger USD which, in tandem with a weaker GBP, assists miners, which may also like upbeat Q1 results from ArcelorMittal (sales beat est), pointing to strong demand for base metals," van Dulken added.In the FTSE 100 early Friday,
Anglo American was up 1.8%,
Randgold Resources up 1.6% and
BHP Billiton up 1.6%.Gold was quoted at USD1,319.32 early Friday, firm compared to USD1,318.60 late Thursday and off its weekly low of USD1,304.20.Integrated steel and mining company ArcelorMittal on Friday said first quarter sales grew 19% to USD19.2 billion from the prior year's USD16.1 billion. Total steel shipments in the first-quarter of 2018 were 1.4% higher than last year.At the top of London's FTSE 250 early Friday was
ZPG as it shot up 30% to 486.40 pence after agreeing to be taken over in a GBP2.2 billion deal.The offer - from Zephyr Bidco, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of funds managed by Silver Lake Management Co V - values each ZPG share at 490p, to be paid in cash, which is a 43% premium to ZPG's volume weighted average share price of 343.0p for the three month period ended Thursday. Silver Lake is an private equity investor focused on "technology and technology-enabled businesses", with around USD39 billion in assets under management.Zephyr Bidco said it has received an irrevocable undertaking from
Daily Mail & General Trust - ZPG's largest shareholder, holding a 29.87% stake - to vote in favour of the deal. DMGT has held a stake in ZPG since 2012, when DMGT's online property business, the Digital Property Group, merged with Zoopla.The directors of ZPG intend to recommend unanimously that shareholders vote in favour of the takeover. Zephyr Bidco has so far received irrevocable undertakings in respect of 136.1 million ZPG shares, representing approximately a 31.03% holding in the company.Shares in DMGT were up 8.7% in early trade on Friday.Also higher in the FTSE 250 was
John Wood Group, up 3.0% after it said it saw "good trading momentum" in the first quarter, with its outlook for 2018 unchanged.In addition to the usual second-half bias, the phasing of cost synergies, projects and market recovery is expected to result in a 60% weighting of earnings to the second half of the year, John Wood said."The first quarter has demonstrated the significant benefits of the operational platform we have created. Our integration programme is ahead of schedule and we are seeing good momentum in trading, cost and revenue synergy delivery," said Chief Executive Robin Watson.Back in the FTSE 100, drugmaker
AstraZeneca was down 0.7% after saying its GALATHEA Phase III trial for Fasenra did not meet the primary endpoint of a statistically-significant reduction of exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."We will now await the results of TERRANOVA and a full evaluation of both trials to determine next steps for Fasenra in COPD," said Sean Bohen, executive vice president, global medicines development and chief medical officer. Results from TERRANOVA are expected later this quarter.The safety and tolerability findings in GALATHEA were consistent with those observed in previous trials with Fasenra, AstraZeneca added, and the results of the GALATHEA trial do not impact the approved indication in severe eosinophilic asthma.Elsewhere on the Main Market, support services firm Interserve was down 1.6% - having lost as much as 7% in early trade - after it said it has received a formal notice of referral to the Enforcement Division of the UK Financial Conduct Authority for investigation into its handling of inside information in relation to its exited energy-from-waste business during the period from July 15, 2016 to February 20, 2017."The company will co-operate fully with the investigation and will update the market on the outcome in due course," Interserve said.In the economic calendar on Friday, the US export and import price index is at 1330 BST, while the Michigan consumer sentiment index is at 1500 BST and the Baker Hughes oil rig count at 1800 BST. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi speaks in Florence at 1415 BST.
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