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LONDON (Alliance News) - Kingfisher is the best-performing stock in the FTSE 100 early Tuesday after it reported lower profit for its last financial year, hit by lower revenue in France and the strength of sterling, but its new chief executive laid out her plans for transforming the business and it launched a new shareholder return programme.

Antofagasta shares are up, even though the company has come out and said it isn't currently in merger talks with Teck Resources, responding to a Bloomberg report that the pair had been in talks.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,900.06
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 17,271.83
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 791.69
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Hang Seng: up 0.2% at 24,909.59
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.1% at 19,206.99
DJIA: closed up 1.5% at 17,976.31
S&P 500: closed up 1.2% at 2,086.24
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.4774
EUR-USD: down at USD1.0771

GOLD: down at USD1,180.40 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD55.46 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)

n/a EU G7 Meeting
08:55 Germany Unemployment Change
09:00 Italy Unemployment
09:30 UK Current Account
09:30 UK Gross Domestic Product
10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
10:00 Italy Consumer Price Index
10:00 EU Unemployment Rate
11:00 Italy Producer Price Index
13:00 US Fed's Lacker speech
13:50 US Fed's Lockhart speech
13:55 US Redbook index
14:00 US FOMC Member Mester speech
14:00 US S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
14:45 US Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index
15:00 US Consumer Confidence
20:00 US Fed's George Speech
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Consumer confidence in the UK rose to a 12-year high in March, the latest survey from GfK revealed on Tuesday, with an index score of +4. That beat forecasts for +2 and was up from +1 in February. "If people warm to it over the next few weeks then we may well see a further increase in the index next month," said Nick Moon, GfK's managing director of social research.
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Germany's retail sales growth eased at a slower-than-expected pace in February, preliminary figures from Destatis showed. Retail sales grew 3.6% year-over-year in February, slower than January's 5.0% climb, which was revised from a 5.3% increase. Economists had forecast a 3.4% growth for the month. It was the third consecutive monthly rise.
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Germany's jobless rate remained unchanged in February, provisional results from Destatis showed Tuesday. The jobless rate came in at adjusted 4.8% in February, unchanged from the prior month. The January rate was revised down from 4.7%. A year ago, the unemployment rate was 5.1%. There were 2.21 million unemployed in February, up by around 150,000 or 7.3%. Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed totaled 2 million.
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Japanese housing starts declined at a slower than expected pace in February, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism showed Tuesday. Housing starts dropped 3.1% in February from last year, slower than January's 13% decline and an expected decrease of 7%. It fell for the twelfth consecutive month in February. The number of annualized housing starts increased to 905,000 from 864,000 in January. It was forecast to rise marginally to 876,000.
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Automobile production in Japan declined for the eighth consecutive month in February, figures from the Japan Automobile Manufactures Association showed Tuesday. Production volume of vehicles fell 5.3% year-over-year, or by 46,062 units to 817,390 units in February. Domestic automobile demand decreased 14.7% annually to 482,103 units in February. Automobile exports dropped 0.3% annually in February, after rising in the previous two months.
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China on Monday relaxed rules on downpayment requirements and housing tax for home buyers, as policymakers try to revive momentum in the slowing property market that poses risks to overall economic growth. The People's Bank of China said on its website that the minimum downpayment requirement for buyers of second homes has been lowered to 40% from 60%. Separately, the finance ministry announced that homeowners who have held a property for at least two years will be exempt from paying business taxes. Previously, only those who owned a property for at least five years were exempt from taxes.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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Liberum Initiates XLMedia At Buy, Price Target 103p
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Liberum Upgrades Pace To Buy From Hold, Keeps Price Target At 390p
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EXANE BNP INITIATES MEGGITT WITH 'UNDERPERFORM' - TARGET 475 PENCE
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TRADERS: CANACCORD CUTS PETROFAC TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Kingfisher reported a drop in sales and profit for its last financial year which it blamed on a slower French market and the strength of sterling, but the DIY retailer said the new CEO plans to organise the company "very differently", bringing its locally-managed set of businesses together into a unified company. The DIY retailer reported a pretax profit of GBP644 million for the year to end-January, down 15% from GBP759 million a year earlier, as revenue dropped to GBP10.97 billion from GBP11.13 billion. Its closely-watched adjusted pretax profit, which strips out exceptional items and financing fair value re-measurements, dropped to GBP675 million, from GBP730 million. It will close some B&Q stores and unprofitable stores in other brands, but it still raised its dividend and announced a new GBP200 million capital return.
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Miners Antofagasta and Teck Resources have denied media speculation that the two were in merger talks to create a copper producer giant. According to a report that appeared in Bloomberg, the two firms held early-stage talks for a merger. There is no guarantee on reaching a deal, the report added, stating that any agreement depends on the approval of the families that control both miners. Teck said in a statement that "...it is not in discussions with Antofagasta in relation to any form of transaction, and there are no other corporate developments that justify any significant movement in its share price."
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group said Rory Cullinan is to leave his role as the executive chairman of its Corporate and Institutional Bank on April 30, only a month after he was appointed to the role. Chris Marks, the co-CEO of the Corporate and Institutional Bank, and Mark Bailie, the CEO of Capital Resolution, will be appointed co-CEOs of Corporate & Institutional Banking.
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BT Group and Virgin Media have written a letter to media and communications regulator Ofcom, arguing any attempt to open up high-speed broadband networks to rivals will result in higher prices and lower investment in the UK, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The pair, in a letter seen by the FT and also signed by regional broadband company Kcom Group, warned any regulatory changes to the business broadband market may lead to higher prices and "significant regulatory uncertainty, undermining the return on sunk investments and therefore disincentivising future infrastructure investments".
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Mitie Group expects its headline operating profit for the year end-March to be slightly below current market expectations, as a result of market pressures in its homecare and social housing businesses caused by local authority spending cuts. The outsourcing company expects its full year revenue to be broadly in line with market expectations, driven by a strong performance from its facilities management business which won a contract extension with Lloyds Banking Group last December, but its homecare and social housing businesses have faced further pricing pressures in the second half of the year.
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Thomas Cook said it is trading in line with management's expectations for its current financial year, having sold almost all the winter season holidays and more than half of the summer season. It said the UK business continues to trade ahead of last year, with "significant" bookings growth driven by robust demand particularly for its Winter Sun holidays, and while trading in Continental and Northern Europe is tough compared to last year's strong performance, it has improved since the first quarter.
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RPC Group expects its revenue and adjusted operating profit to be in line with its expectations and significantly ahead year-on-year despite the impact of the strength of sterling against the euro. It expects revenue to be boosted by organic growth, the conclusion of its short-term strategic programme and the contribution from acquisitions. RPC said the financial year benefited from the time lag in passing on declining polymer prices to its customer base, though this was offset by the strength of sterling against the euro.
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Amec Foster Wheeler has won a nine-year contract worth up to GBP15 million a year to provide project management services to all of EDF Energy's UK nuclear power stations as well as its technical offices in Gloucester and East Kilbride.
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John Wood Group has been awarded a five-year, multi-million dollar deal by Total SA to deliver engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services to four offshore assets and two onshore facilities in the UK continental shelf.
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Grainger said Chief Executive Andrew Cunningham will retire at the company's next Annual General Meeting in February 2016 after seven years in the role, and it is starting to search for suitable candidates to replace him. It added that incoming Chairman Ian Coull will also take a leave of absence from its board after taking further medical advice. Senior Independent Director Margaret Ford has been made permanent chairman with immediate effect.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Tiziana Life Sciences said it will raise GBP2.55 million in a discounted share placing, sending shares in the company lower just after the open. Tiziana said it will issue 3.4 million shares at 75 pence per share. Shares in the company were down 15% to 85.5 pence on Tuesday morning, one of the worst performers in the AIM All-Share index.
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Premaitha Health shares rose early after the company said it has signed a collaboration deal with Centrum Badan DNA Group in Poland for its non-invasive prenatal IONA test. Under the deal, the pair will work to establish Centrum Badan as Premaitha's preferred partner for the Polish market. No financial details were disclosed on the deal.
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Payment products company Eckoh has signed a number of new contracts for its secure payments services and said its sales pipeline in the US looks robust. The company said it performed particularly well in the final quarter of its financial year to the end of March, with six new multi-year deals won in the insurance, retail, leisure and public sectgors, along with contract extensions from two utility companies.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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International Business Machines Corp will invest USD3 billion over the next four years to establish a new Internet of Things or IoT unit, and that it is building a cloud-based open platform designed to help clients and ecosystem partners build IoT solutions. The new unit will be led by Pat Toole as General Manager.
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New model music company BMG said it has signed a wide-ranging digital distribution deal with Alibaba Group's Digital Entertainment business unit. "The agreement will not only significantly boost earnings by BMG artists and writers from the world's most populous nation, but also give them a powerful ally in helping grow the legitimate music market in China," BMG said. Alibaba's Digital Entertainment business unit will promote BMG writers and artists through channels such as its streaming apps Xiami and TTPod. It will also monitor and take action against digital and mobile services who may infringe the rights of BMG clients.
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Novartis said the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Jadenu tablets, a new oral formulation of Exjade tablets for oral suspension, for the treatment of chronic iron overload due to blood transfusions in patients 2 years of age and older, and chronic iron overload in non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia syndromes or NTDT in patients 10 years of age and older.
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Electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc will introduce a new mysterious product line, but it is not a car, the company's founder and chief executive officer Elon Musk said in a tweet Monday. "Major new Tesla product line -- not a car -- will be unveiled at our Hawthorne Design Studio on Thurs 8pm, April 30," Musk tweeted. Musk did not provide any details about the product, but some experts believe the announcement could be related to stationary storage batteries for residential customers.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Horizonte Minerals
Hume Capital Securities
ECR Minerals
Biotech Growth Trust
UK Commercial Property Trust
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