Wood Group (J) Share News (WG.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened higher Thursday, following dovish minutes from the US Federal Reserve Wednesday and ahead of a Bank of England interest rate announcement.

British retailer Marks and Spencer Group PLC said group sales rose 1.9% in the last quarter of its financial year, as sales continue to be driven by its successful food business and improvements online, while general merchandise and clothing sales also picked up in the quarter.

Vedanta Resources PLC said it failed to reach its revised mined metal production estimate at Zinc India, but posted strong full year production of oil and gas due to the ramp-up of operations at its Rajasthan Block.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.7% at 6,682.34
FTSE 250: up 0.8% at 16,296.32
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.3% at 849.20
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Hang Seng: up 1.4% at 23,173.21
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.4% at 14,300.12
DJIA: closed up 1.1% at 16,437.18
S&P 500: closed up 1.1% at 1,872.18
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6777
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3858

GOLD: up at USD1,320.60 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD107.69 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Thursday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)

09:00 EU ECB Monthly Report
09:00 Italy Industrial Output
11:00 Ireland Consumer Price Index
12:00 UK BoE Interest Rate and Asset Purchase Facility Decision
13:30 US Export and Import Price Indices
13:30 US Jobless Claims
13:30 Canada New Housing Price Index
15:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage change
18:00 US 30-Year Bond Auction
19:00 US Monthly Budget Statement
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The Federal Reserve held a special meeting on March 4, according to the minutes of the regularly scheduled meeting held a few weeks later. At the first meeting, policy makers discussed whether to change its communication on forward guidance, including its unemployment threshold. Then on March 19, the Fed officially voted to drop its 6.5% unemployment target for tightening monetary policy, calling the metric "outdated."
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The house price balance in the UK climbed to 57% in March, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said. That was well above forecasts for 44%, and it was up from the upwardly revised 47% in February (originally 45%). Sales touched a six-year high in March, the data showed, while house prices moved higher in every region of the country - led by sharp gains in London and the South East.
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FRENCH FEB INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT RISES 0.1% ON MONTH, CONSENSUS 0.2%; MANUFACTURING OUTPUT RISES 0.3% M-O-M, CONSENSUS 0.3%
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FRANCE MARCH CPI UP 0.4% ON MONTH, CONSENSUS 0.6%; UP 0.6% ON YEAR, CONSENSUS 0.7%
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China's exports and imports declined unexpectedly in March, adding to evidence that suggests that the economy is struggling to achieve its targeted growth. Shipments dropped 6.6% year-over-year in March, confounding expectations for a 4.8% increase. However, the rate of decline slowed from the 18% slump in February, figures from the General Administration of Customs showed.
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Core machine orders in Japan tumbled a seasonally adjusted 8.8% on month in February, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday - worth JPY769.6 billion. The headline figure was well shy of forecasts for a contraction of 3.0% following the 13.4% surge in January. On a yearly basis, core machine orders collected 10.8% - also missing expectations for 17.5% following the 23.6% spike in the previous month.
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The landmark free trade deal being negotiated between the EU and the US has strong general support in the US and Germany, according to a poll released Wednesday. But when asked about specifics, such as adopting common regulatory standards on food and other products across the Atlantic, there was a strong difference of opinion, according to the poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in association with Germany's Bertelsmann Foundation. The Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership enjoyed strong general support among Germans (55% to 25%) and Americans (53% to 20%) in the poll. But only 45% of Germans agreed to bringing regulatory standards onto one page, while 76% of Americans thought that was a good idea.
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Searchers in the Indian Ocean said they believe they are close to the "final resting place" of a lost Malaysia Airlines jet. The Boeing 777 went missing a month ago on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Signals believed to be from the black boxes first heard on Saturday were picked up again Tuesday, raising the spirits of the multinational force gathered on Australia's west coast to work together looking for wreckage.
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New Zealanders were gathering Thursday in the small town of Blenheim in the South Island hours before the expected arrival of the duke and duchess of Cambridge for the first public walkabout of their April 7-25 tour of New Zealand and Australia.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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PANMURE RAISES COMPASS GROUP TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 1100 (900) PENCE
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UBS RAISES BT GROUP TO 'NEUTRAL' ('SELL') - TARGET 360 (350) PENCE
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TRADERS: BARCLAYS RAISES EVRAZ TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' ('UNDERWEIGHT')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC late Wednesday said it has reached an agreement with the UK government over the future retirement of the dividend access share, in a move that marks an important step for the bailed out bank to one day resume paying dividends and return to private ownership. Under the agreement, RBS will pay the Treasury an initial GBP320 million in 2014 in order to remove the dividend access share, a key part of the government's GBP25.5 billion capital injection in 2009. A further GBP1.18 billion payment will be required to retire the dividend access share, RBS said. It will be payable in one or more dividends.
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Centrica's British Gas To Pay GBP5.6M Fine After Ofgem Investigation; Fine Is For Blocking Businesses From Switching And Failing To Give Notice Of Contract End; Ofgem Says British Gas Cooperated Fully With Investigation And Has Corrected Practices
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British retailer Marks and Spencer Group PLC said group sales rose 1.9% in the last quarter of its financial year, as sales continue to be driven by its successful food business and improvements online, while general merchandise and clothing sales also picked up in the quarter. The retailer said it remains cautious about the outlook, given the competitive and promotional pricing environment in the UK, despite some improvement in consumer confidence.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Vedanta Resources PLC said it failed to reach its revised mined metal production estimate at Zinc India, but posted strong full year production of oil and gas due to the ramp-up of operations at its Rajasthan Block. In January, the India-focused oil and metals company warned that it expected mined metal production at its Zinc India operations in the full year ending March 31 to be about 900,000 tonnes due to a slower-than-expected ramp up of its underground mining project and a change in mining sequence that is giving preference to primary mine development. However on Thursday the company said it had failed to meet this revised estimate, achieving 880,000 tonnes, a 1% increase on its 870,000 tonnes the previous year. In contrast Vedanta achieved strong production from its Oil & Gas operations, where average daily gross operated production increased 6% to 218,651 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 205,323 barrels.
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Cairn Energy PLC said Deputy Chief Executive Mike Watts and Chief Financial Officer Jann Brown will not seek re-election to the board at its AGM in May. The company said that the decisions come as part of its "long term succession planning". The outgoing directors have "agreed, during their notice periods, to continue in senior roles and dedicate their time to seeking to resolve the tax position in India," said Cairn. James Smith will take over the role of finance director and will join the Cairn board.
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John Wood Group PLC said new Chairman Ian Marchant will be succeeded by David Woodward as Senior Independent Non-Executive Director. Wood Group also said Jann Brown will join as a non-executive director and will chair the Board's Audit Committee and join the Nomination Committee. Brown joins from Cairn Energy.
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Ashmore Group PLC suffered a decline in assets under management in the third-quarter, as a USD1.0 billion positive investment performance failed to offset USD6.2 billion in net outflows. Overall, assets under management declined to an estimated USD70.1 billion at the end of the quarter to March 31, compared with USD75.3 billion at the end of 2013.
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Hays PLC said it expects full-year operating profit to be towards the top of the current range of market estimates, based on a good start the the second-half overall and strong performances in key markets such as the UK and Germany. In a statement, Hays said it understands the range of market estimates for operating profit for the year ending June 30 to be between GBP130.0 million and GBP141.0 million.
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Oxford Instruments PLC confirmed that its performance for the full year to end-March was in line with the previous year. Although the company saw a strong trading performance in its final quarter, boosted by the integration of its acquisition Andor Technology, this was offset by the strengthening of sterling.
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Balfour Beatty Says Contract Arbitration Finds In Parsons Brinckerhoff's Favour But USD8M Award Lower Than Expectations; Will Receive Net Cash In Excess Of USD20M From Escrow Account
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Greene King PLC said Chief Financial Officer Matthew Fearn has taken a temporary leave of absence to undergo urgent and important medical treatment. Fearn's responsibilities will be taken on by Finance Director David Brown in his absence, reporting to Chief Executive Rooney Anand. Brown will not join the board but will attend all board meetings until Fearn's return, said the firm.
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COMPANIES - ALL-SHARE AND AIM
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Mothercare Q4 Total Group Sales Up 0.6%, FY Total Group Sales Down 2.6%; Total UK Sales Down 4.0%, FY Down 7.5%; Expects Environment to Remain Competitive, Promotional In The UK
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COMPANIES - OTHER
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Lord Myners has quit the board of troubled Co-operative Group amid criticism of his reform plans for the mutual, the BBC and other UK media reported. The former City minister's resignation follows that of the mutual's former chief executive, Euan Sutherland, last month. Myners was a senior independent director of Co-op. The Co-op, which operates supermarkets, funeral homes and pharmacies, said Lord Myners' review will continue, according to the BBC.
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Thursday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

BP
Smith & Nephew
Primary Health Properties
H&T Group
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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