WPP Share News (WPP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened mixed on Monday, with IWG leading the midcap risers after agreeing to sell its Japanese operations. The FTSE 100 was down 8.42 points, or 0.1%, at 7,428.56 early Monday. The FTSE 250 was up 49.82 points, or 0.3%, at 19,761.53, while the AIM All-Share was up 0.3% at 944.59.The Cboe UK 100 index was flat at 12,605.81. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 17,681.62, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.1% at 11,328.30.In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were both up 0.1% in early dealings.On the trade front, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday a US-China trade agreement would go "way beyond" previous efforts to open China's markets to US companies.Mnuchin told the media on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank that he believed Washington and Beijing are getting close to the final round of concluding issues.On the London Stock Exchange, advertising firm WPP was the best blue chip performer, up 1.5% on a positive read-across from French peer Publicis Groupe.The French advertising and public relations company reported that its net revenue for the first-quarter of 2019 was EUR2.12 billion, up 1.7% from EUR2.08 billion in 2018. On organic basis, net revenue for the quarter was down 1.8%, or 1.6% excluding PHS, mainly reflecting attrition of a handful of FMCG clients.At the other end of the large cap index, Compass Group was the worst performer, down 2.5% after Barclays downgraded the contract caterer to Equal Weight from Overweight. Rio Tinto was down 0.9%. The Anglo-Australian miner said it has committed USD302 million of additional funding to advance its Resolution Copper project in the US state of Arizona. The investment will fund additional drilling, ore-body studies, infrastructure improvements and permitting activities as the miner looks to progress the project to the final stage of the project's permitting phase.In the FTSE 250, IWG was the star performer, up 20% after the office provider said it has agreed to sell its Japanese operations to TKP Corp for GBP320 million cash.The company, which provides office spaces under Regus brand, also agreed an exclusive master franchise agreement with TKP for the country.The company's Japanese business, Regus Japan Holdings, comprises of 130 flexible co-work centres. Completion of the sale is expected to occur in May 2019 subject to Japanese anti-trust clearance.TKP, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, provides conference rooms and banquet halls for rental.In addition, Credit Suisse raised IWG to Outperform from Neutral. Energean Oil & Gas was up 8.5% after the oil and gas company said it made a "significant" gas discovery at the Karish North Exploration well in offshore Israel.Energean said drilling of the initial phase of the Karish North well is now complete and will now deepen the well to evaluate hydrocarbon potential at the D4 horizon.At the other end of the midcap index, Acacia Mining was the worst performer, down 3.2% after the gold miner said first-quarter gold production came in 13% below the prior year.Acacia recorded gold production of 104,899 ounces in the first-quarter to March end. The company attributed the fall in production to "unanticipated production issues" at its North Mara mine in Tanzania.Looking ahead, Acacia said was confident of delivering against annual guidance of 500,000 to 550,000 ounces of gold. In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.0%, S&P 500 up 0.7% and Nasdaq Composite up 0.5%.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.1%.Asian markets were higher as strong Chinese exports data released last week helped ease investor worries over slowing global growth."In an Easter shortened week Asia markets have got off to a decent start taking their cues from easing concerns about Chinese data, and a strong end to the week for US markets. This looks set to translate into a positive start for European stocks this morning," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.The pound was quoted at USD1.3089 Monday, against USD1.3108 at the London equities close Friday.UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is using a visit to Japan to tell business leaders that the UK is focused on avoiding a no-deal Brexit.Following withdrawal from the EU being delayed until October 31, Hunt will stress on Monday that Britain is seeking "tariff-free frictionless trade" with the bloc.As well as meeting Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe, Hunt is also visiting a Tokyo high school to help teach English.The Foreign Office said Hunt would meet with Toyota and NTT to "update them on EU exit developments, and reassure them that UK Government is focused on avoiding a no-deal Brexit and on agreeing a deal which that will ensure tariff-free frictionless trade between the EU and the UK".In the US earnings calendar on Monday, banks Citigroup and Goldman Sachs will report earnings before the market open in New York.