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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------WPP, down 3.8%. Deutsche Bank raised the advertising and marketing firm to Buy from Hold.----------Johnson Matthey, up 2.7%. The speciality chemicals firm said said it appointed Xiaozhi Liu as non-executive director with effect from Tuesday. Liu has worked extensively in the automotive sector, particularly in China, as well as in Europe and the US, the company said. Liu is currently chief executive officer of ASL Automobile Science & Technology (Shanghai) Co, a consulting and business development firm, which she founded in 2009, focusing on automotive innovation and technology commercialisation.----------BHP, up 2.5%, Glencore, up 2.4%, Rio Tinto, up 2.3%, Antofagasta, up 2.1%. The miners were higher following positive manufacturing PMI readings from China. Manufacturing activity in China returned to growth in March after four months of contraction, the Caixin Purchasing Managers' Index showed on Monday. The headline seasonally adjusted PMI rose to 50.8 points in March from 49.9 in February, marking the first improvement in the health of China's manufacturing sector since November. It was also the highest reading seen since July. A figure above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. Official data at the weekend from the National Bureau of Statistics showed its manufacturing PMI rose to 50.5 in March, after dropping to a three-year low of 49.2 in February.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------easyJet, down 7.8%. The low-cost carrier said it expects to post a significantly widened loss for the first half of its financial year, due to higher costs, fuel and foreign exchange charges. Furthermore, the budget airline warned on the outlook for the second half of the year, which is now "more cautious" due to macroeconomic uncertainty leading to softness in both the UK and Europe. For the six months ended March, easyJet expects to report a headline pretax loss of around GBP275 million. This compares to a headline loss of GBP18 million a year ago. The company said the results were in line with expectations, but its outlook for the second half was now more cautious owing to uncertainty and "unanswered questions" around Brexit. Chief Executive Officer Johan Lundgren said: "For the second half we are seeing softness in both the UK and Europe, which we believe comes from macroeconomic uncertainty and many unanswered questions surrounding Brexit which are together driving weaker customer demand." British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group was down 1.6%, midcap Wizz Air was down 4.6% and Irish airline Ryanair Holdings was off 4.7%. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Royal Mail. up 2.7%. Berenberg raised the postal operator to Hold from Sell. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Block Energy, up 71%. The oil and gas company reported the best result from a well test in Georgia in 50 years. The 16a well at West Rustavi tested at a flow rate of 1,100 barrels a day, significantly higher than the 325 barrels a day target. Block will soon put the well into production, after the current build-up phase. Chief Executive Paul Haywood said: "We are delighted to report such encouraging test results from the first well we have sidetracked at our flagship West Rustavi field, delivering a production rate significantly higher than that initially presented. Current performance, complemented by the company's increased working interest in the licence, looks set to deliver great value to our shareholders."----------WANdisco, up 12%. The data-management software company said it secured a USD2.2 million contract with an unnamed provider of information and communications technology, infrastructure and smart devices in China. The contract will see the unnamed client deploy WANdisco's patented Fusion platform across its enterprise. "China remains a largely untapped market for us, but we have steadily built our presence both with a direct sales channel as well as our original equipment manufacturing with Alibaba, the largest cloud vendor in Asia," Chief Executive David Richards said.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Low & Bonar, down 23%. The performance materials maker warned continued weak trading in the first quarter will lead to revenue and profit being below expectations. During the first quarter for the year ending November 30, the firm explained core businesses of Colbond and Coated Technical Textiles had continued to experience tough conditions leading to revenue and profit performance being weaker than expected. Low & Bonar explained that lower market demand has continued to hold back Colbond and Coated Technical Textiles sales and legacy supply issues and competition has hindered CTT. In January, Low & Bonar had reported that Colbond and CTT had seen their performances "held back" early in the new financial year. This was due to lower volumes from an important customer, reduced capacity at a manufacturing site due to a fire and lower demand from some markets. For the year ended November 2018, Low & Bonar reported a pretax loss of GBP45.7 million on revenue of GBP431.9 million. ----------
23 Feb 2023 11:35
