LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Stocks Higher; Pound Gains Amid Brexit Talk Hopes

LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 managed to start the week on the front foot, despite the pound rising on Monday amid speculation UK Prime Minister Theresa May will head to Strasbourg for last-minute Brexit talks ahead of Tuesday's parliamentary vote. The FTSE 100 index closed up 26.31 points, or 0.4%, at 7,130.62. The FTSE 250 ended 45.39 points higher, or 0.2%, at 19,093.06, and the AIM All-Share closed up 3.32 points, or 0.4%, at 908.00.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.2% at 12,101.26, the Cboe UK 250 closed flat at 17,049.65, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.1% at 11,075.50."In what is likely to be the first in a week full of big moves, the pound shot higher on the latest Brexit speculation," said Connor Campbell at Spreadex.The pound was quoted at USD1.3101 at the London equities close Monday, up compared to USD1.3000 at the close on Friday.UK Prime Minister Theresa May was working down to the wire to find a Brexit breakthrough before Tuesday's crucial vote by MPs on her Withdrawal Agreement, with speculation mounting of last-minute talks with Jean-Claude Juncker.Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney said he understood that the prime minister will travel to Strasbourg on Monday evening in a final bid to secure changes that will allow MPs to back her Withdrawal Agreement the following day.However, sources in London said the Tanaiste was "getting ahead of himself" and there were no confirmed plans for May to fly to the continent.Neither Downing Street nor the European Commission would confirm plans for a face-to-face meeting between May and Juncker, who spoke by telephone on Sunday evening and again on Monday.However, the rumour of a meeting was "enough to get the pound excited" on Monday, said Spreadex's Campbell.Time is running out for any new assurances or clarifications to the deal which was resoundingly rejected by a 230-vote majority by MPs in January.The government must table its motion for Tuesday's debate by the end of the day, alongside the publication of any relevant documents - including Attorney General Geoffrey Cox's legal advice on the deal.May's official spokesman confirmed it remains the plan to stage the second "meaningful vote" on the Brexit deal on Tuesday.EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the talks happening now were "between the government in London and the Parliament in London", rather than the UK and Brussels.In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended 0.7% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.8%.The euro stood at USD1.1230 at the European equities close Monday, flat against USD1.1239 at the same time on Friday.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, with the DJIA up 0.3%, the S&P 500 index 1.2% higher and the Nasdaq Composite rising 1.7%.The Dow managed to gain despite Boeing shares sliding 7.4% after one of its 737 Max 8 aircraft, flown by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed and killed nearly 160 people.All Chinese airlines were ordered to temporarily ground their Max 8 planes by the country's aviation watchdog, while a Caribbean operator suspended operations with both of its new planes. In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was "closely monitoring developments" following the incident, which comes months after a crash involving the same kind of plane that left 189 people dead.In commodities, Brent oil was quoted at USD66.32 a barrel at the London equities close Monday, up from USD64.55 late Friday."Oil is higher today after Saudi Arabia indicated that their production cuts will run beyond April," said David Madden at CMC Markets. "The oil producing nation is the unofficial head of OPEC, and the group will meet next month, and in June. It was suggested there will be no change to OPEC's policy at next month's meeting."Meanwhile, gold slipped to be quoted at USD1,291.91 an ounce at the London equities close Monday against USD1,298.86 at the close on Friday.On the London Stock Exchange, Standard Life Aberdeen ended among the gainers, up 2.6%. The asset manager said it will sell up to 99.5 million shares in HDFC Life Insurance Co for around GBP380 million.Standard Life's wholly-owned subsidiary, Standard Life Mauritius Holdings 2006 will sell 70.0 shares in Indian life insurer HDFC but will hold an option sell an additional 29.5 million shares in the event of an over-subscription.Assuming all 99.5 million shares are sold, at the floor price of INR357.5 per share, about GBP3.9, Standard Life will receive about GBP380 million.The 99.5 million shares represent about 4.9% of HDFC's total issued shares. Following the sale, Standard Life will still hold a 24% interest in HDFC, which, based on a closing price of INR390.45, is worth about GBP2.1 billion.Merger & acquisition activity was driving the FTSE 250 higher at the start of the week, with Charter Court Financial Services and OneSavings closing up 12% and 10% respectively on news of their potential tie-up. Charter Court Financial confirmed it is in "advanced" talks to be taken over by larger peer OneSavings Bank in an all-share deal to create a lender with a GBP1.64 billion market capitalisation.OneSavings, which has not yet released its own statement, would offer 0.8253 of a share per Charter Court share, leading to OneSavings Bank shareholders owning 55% of the new group and Charter Court's the rest.Leading the combined group would be current OneSavings Chief Executive Andy Golding.A deal has not yet been agreed, Charter Court stressed, but both boards would recommend one to its shareholders if a final agreement can be reached.Subprime lender Provident Financial gained 2.1% as it reiterated its opposition to a hostile takeover approach from smaller peer Non-Standard Finance, branding the offer "strategically and financially flawed".Provident's board continues to "strongly" urge shareholders to take no action in respect of the offer. Non-Standard Finance approached the company with an hostile all-share takeover offer worth GBP1.3 billion in February.Under the offer, Provident shareholders will receive 8.88 new Non-Standard Finance shares for each Provident share held. On Saturday, Non-Standard Finance published the offer document alongside a letter from Chief Executive Officer John Van Kuffeler to Provident shareholders.Van Kuffeler, who was CEO and chair of Provident for 22 years, said the offer presents a "compelling and achievable vision" for a better future for Provident.Non-Standard Finance shares closed flat on Monday. Dragging on the mid-cap index was Clarkson, dipping 14% after the shipping services company reported a decline in annual profit. The FTSE 250-listed firm posted pretax profit of GBP42.9 million, 5.5% lower compared to GBP45.4 million a year ago. Revenue, meanwhile, rose 4.2% to GBP337.6 million from GBP324.0 million.The dip in profit was mainly due to higher administrative expenses of GBP282.1 million compared to GBP269.3 million a year ago.Looking ahead, the company said it started the year with a "stronger forward order book". However, it warned that geo-political uncertainty, from trade wars, Brexit and the imposition of sanctions, is continuing to knock global sentiment."This is causing delays in the ability for our financial segment to execute on awarded mandates and also, combined with the effects of tragic natural disasters, is impacting the rate environment within the dry cargo segment," Clarkson said.Elsewhere on the Main Market, Old Mutual fell 3.8% as income for 2018 fell though the insurance firm did manage to achieve an increase in profit. In 2018, pretax profit widened to ZAR8.45 billion from ZAR7.12 billion the year prior. This was despite total income falling to ZAR109.88 billion from ZAR175.93 billion the year before.Returns from operations fell 4.0% to ZAR9.96 billion from ZAR10.37 billion the year prior "reflecting net reserve movements, and mortality and morbidity losses in Personal Finance in the first half of 2018 and the change in functional currency in Zimbabwe.""We are still confident that we will meet all our targets in the medium term noting that the [Results from Operations] target will be difficult given the negative growth in 2018," Chief Executive Peter Moyo said."We have improved our customer experience through digital enhancements and the delivery of key phases of our IT refresh journey. Whilst we continue to see economic headwinds in the near term, our group is resilient, well capitalised and managing its costs tightly," Moyo added.In the UK corporate calendar on Tuesday are full-year results from takeaway chain Domino's Pizza, security services firm G4S, gaming firm 888 Holdings, IT firm Computacenter, and clothing retailer French Connection. There are also half-year results from merchant bank Close Brothers. In Tuesday's economic calendar, UK industrial and manufacturing product figures are at 0930 GMT with the goods trade balance due at the same time, along with a GDP reading for January. In the US is CPI at 1230 GMT.