WPP Share News (WPP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - US-China trade newsflow boosted stocks on Tuesday, while the pound's rebound stalled as UK Prime Minister Theresa May toured Europe to talk with her counterparts after the making decision to delay a planned parliamentary vote on her withdrawal deal. The FTSE 100 index closed up 85.40 points, or 1.3%, at 6,806.94. The FTSE 250 ended up 160.95 points, or 0.9%, at 17,653.26 and the AIM All-Share closed up 1.60 points, or 0.2%, at 887.31.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 1.5% at 11,590.67, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 1.1% at 15,793.00, but the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.5% at 10,986.06.Sentiment on Tuesday was lifted by some promising developments in the US-China trade saga. China and the US on Tuesday discussed a road map for future trade talks during a phone call between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin."The two sides exchanged views on the implementation of the consensus on the meeting between the two heads of state and the promotion of the next economic and trade consultations' timetable and roadmap," China's Commerce Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.It is expected that Liu will soon travel to the US for talks, however tensions between the two countries have increased even further over the arrest of a Huawei executive in Canada at Washington's request. The chief financial officer of the Chinese telecommunications giant, Meng Wanzhou, is facing extradition to the US for allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran.Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, commented: "This is just the kind of news markets needed to hear to calm other ongoing tensions - the abandoned Brexit vote in the UK, protracted protests in France and swelling fears of an economic slowdown in the US."The pound was quoted at USD1.2517 at the London equities close Tuesday, down compared to USD1.2535 at the close on Monday. The pound had traded at USD1.2750 late Friday.Though sterling rose back above the USD1.26 mark on Tuesday following some upbeat UK wage data, the pound once again trended lower amid no signs of movement from the EU over Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told May during a meeting on Tuesday that "there will be no further renegotiation" of the Brexit deal May negotiated with Brussels. Sources who attended a meeting of Merkel's conservative bloc told dpa that the chancellor nonetheless expressed optimism that the deal would go through.Merkel's comments came after the European Commission president declared there was "no room whatsoever" for renegotiation on the deal. Jean-Claude Juncker said the Withdrawal Agreement on offer was the "best deal possible" and the "only deal possible" as the prime minister embarked on emergency Brexit talks with her Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte.May's trip to The Hague, Berlin and Brussels comes on the heels of Monday's decision to delay Tuesday's planned vote in parliament on her withdrawal deal amid fears of a defeat. May will bring her Brexit deal back before the House of Commons "before January 21", Downing Street said on Tuesday. Released earlier on Tuesday, the Office for National Statistics reported that average earnings in the UK increased by 3.3% in the year to October, accelerating from 3.1% the previous month. It was the highest figure since 2008 and is more than the latest inflation rate of 2.4%.The ONS said average weekly earnings, adjusted for price inflation, increased by 1.1%, including bonuses, compared with a year ago.The UK's jobless rate is now 4.1%, 0.2 percentage point lower than a year ago. Employment increased by 79,000 in the three months to October to 32.4 million, the highest since records began in 1971.In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 1.7%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 1.9%.The euro stood at USD1.1317 at the European equities close Tuesday, against USD1.1367 at the same time on Monday.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, with the DJIA up 0.4%, the S&P 500 index up 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.8%. Producer prices in the US unexpectedly showed a modest uptick in November, rising by 0.1% month-on-month following a 0.6% gain in October. Economists had expected prices to be unchanged.The Labor Department said that excluding food and energy prices, core producer prices rose by 0.3% in November following a 0.5% increase in October. Core prices had been expected to edge up more modestly, by 0.1%.Brent oil was quoted at USD60.71 a barrel at the London equities close Tuesday, soft compared to USD60.87 late Monday.Gold was quoted at USD1,242.75 an ounce at the London equities close Tuesday, down from USD1,245.50 at the close on Monday.In the FTSE 100, miner Anglo American closed up 5.5% as the best blue-chip performer after saying it expects 2018 output to beat existing guidance by 2%, with costs coming in 5% below.In November, Anglo American guided for 660,000 tonnes of copper in 2018, up from a previous range of 630,000 tonnes to 660,000 tonnes. In 2017, it produced 579,300 tonnes of copper.Guidance for 2019 was tweaked to the range of 630,000 to 660,000 tonnes from 600,000 to 660,000 tonnes previously, and for 2020 Anglo American expects copper production in the range of 620,000 to 680,000 tonnes from 600,000 to 660,000 tonnes previously.WPP shares gained 4.8% after the advertising giant unveiled its restructuring plan, admitting it has become "too unwieldy, with too much duplication".As part of a restructuring plan, the company intends to become a more client-centric organisation, have fewer but more integrated companies, and integrate further at a country level.WPP, which owns the JWT and Ogilvy advertising agencies, also will invest GBP15 million a year over the next three years in creative leadership, with a particular focus on the US, and will accelerate investments in technology.WPP will record GBP300 million in restructuring costs over the next three years as it implements the new business plan. It predicts savings of GBP275 million by the end of 2021, around half of which will be reinvested in the business. Ashtead advanced 3.6% after the equipment rental firm raised its annual guidance following a strong first-half. The blue-chip company posted pretax profit of GBP633.4 million for the six months to the end of October, up 19% from GBP536.9 million reported for the same period a year earlier. The result was driven by strong 18% revenue growth to GBP2.07 billion from GBP1.77 billion year-on-year.Looking forward, Ashtead said it intends to continue to focus on operational efficiency and improving margins."We expect full year results to be ahead of our prior expectations and the board continues to look to the medium term with confidence," said Chief Executive Geoff Drabble.Standard Life Aberdeen closed down 2.4% after RBC cut its rating on the asset manager to Sector Perform from Outperform. At the bottom of the FTSE 250 was Superdry, closing down 7.3% after Berenberg downgraded the fashion retailer to Hold from Buy.On Wednesday, Superdry releases its interim results. Half-year figures are also due from electronics retailer Dixons Carphone and Franco Manca pizza chain owner Fulham Shore, with trading statements from oilfield services firm John Wood and Dunhill cigarette maker British American Tobacco. In Wednesday's economic calendar, eurozone industrial production is at 1000 GMT while US CPI is at 1330 GMT.