WPP Share News (WPP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened mixed on Wednesday ahead of the US Fed's interest rate decision, as Glencore climbed to the top of the FTSE 100 index after settling a dispute over a Congo joint venture, but Just Eat fell to the bottom as its battle with upstart Deliveroo heated up. The index London large caps was down 0.2%, or 18.78 points, at 7,685.03 early Wednesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was flat at 21,240.78. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.1% at 1,011.68.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.3% at 13,041.38, the Cboe UK 250 was flat at 19,412.98, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.6% at 12,853.82.Blue-chip miner Glencore opened as the best performer in the FTSE 100, up 3.7%. Subsidiary Katanga Mining reached an agreement with the Democratic Republic of the Congo's state mining firm Gecamines. Katanga has been taking part in a joint venture in the DRC with Gecamines called the Kamoto Copper Co, which has been struggling with capital deficiencies. Katanga has a 75% stake and Gecamines 25% in the partnership.Under the settlement, Katanga will pay USD150 million to Gecamines related to "historical" commercial disputes and a further USD41 million related to outstanding expenses in the Kamoto exploration programme.Advertising firm WPP was the second best performer, up 2.1%. With the recent departure of founder Martin Sorrell as chief executive still upsetting many shareholders, WPP holds its annual general meeting Wednesday. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs raised the group's price target to 1,416 pence from 1,410p, retaining its Neutral rating.At the bottom of the FTSE 100 was online takeaway firm Just Eat, down 6.7% as the Guardian reported late Tuesday that rival Deliveroo intends to sign up 5,000 more UK eateries, the Guardian reported late Tuesday.The FTSE 100-listed online takeaway firm recently said it was planning to launch its own delivery fleet in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, competing with Deliveroo.In turn, Deliveroo announced UK expansion plans. The online food delivery company said it expects to add 5,000 UK eateries to its network as well as employ "thousands" of more couriers to its existing team of 15,000 riders.Deliveroo delivers meals using its ubiquitous couriers, mostly on bicycles, while Just Eat has in the past relied on the restaurants in its network to make their own deliveries.In the FTSE 250, TalkTalk Telecom led the midcaps, up 7.4%. Merrill Lynch raised the telecommunications group to a Buy rating from Underperform.At the bottom of the index was Dixons Carphone, down 4.4%, after the electronics retailer admitted that there had been unauthorised access to data held by the company. In an investigation into the breach, it was found there was an attempt made to compromise 5.9 million payment cards in one of the processing systems of Currys, PC World and Dixons Retail stores, leading to 105,000 non-EU issued payment cards being compromised.In addition, 1.2 million records containing non-financial personal data was illegally accessed.UK inflation readings are due Wednesday morning at 0930 BST, while after the London close, the US Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision at 1900 BST. The European Central Bank and Bank of Japan follow on Thursday and Friday, respectively."USD pushing higher ahead of this evening's Fed policy update, providing a cushion for the FTSE by way of GBP weakness. A hike is expected but more focus on the expectations for further hikes. Chair Powell may also be considering a press conference after every Fed meeting, rather than every other which could open the door to both more hikes and less predictability," said Michael van Dulken, head of Research at Accendo Markets.Sterling was quoted at USD1.3358 early Wednesday, still marginally higher than USD1.3354 at the London equities close on Tuesday.The Federal Open Market Committee is due to conclude its two-day policy meeting and announce its decision at 1900 BST. This will be followed by a press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who will provide fresh economic projections.Analysts agree that an interest-rate increase from the US central bank appears to be a certainty, but noted the dot plot forecasts will be under close scrutiny to determine how many additional rate hikes will occur this year.The euro was quoted at USD1.1748 early Wednesday, marginally down from USD1.1783 at the European equities close Tuesday.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.1% early Wednesday.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 1.0%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 1.0%.