LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: FTSE Up; Pound Rebounds As PM May's Fate Hangs

LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 continued to climb steadily higher on Wednesday amid further hopes of an easing in tensions between the US and China, while Rolls-Royce was sat atop the blue-chip index. The pound, meanwhile, had staged a rebound by midday from its no confidence vote-inspired lows of the morning."So far sterling has played the waiting game in regards to the impending vote of no-confidence in Theresa May, the currency effectively unchanged against both the dollar and the euro," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell"If the prime minister comes out the other side with her job intact, then it takes one of the many uncertainties that have swirled around UK politics for the last few months off the table," he added. "If she loses, on the other hand, then well, the pound's likely going to have a very unpleasant run-in to Christmas."

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2536 Wednesday midday, having dipped to its lowest level since April 2017 of USD1.2476 shortly as news of the no confidence vote broke. The pound was quoted at USD1.2517 late Tuesday.The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 85.53 points, or 1.3%, at 6,892.47 at midday. The FTSE 250 was up 192.94 points, or 1.1%, at 17,846.20, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.1% at 886.97.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.9% at 11,694.1, while the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.7% at 15,905.96. The Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 10,985.35.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 1.6% and 0.9% respectively.

In the latest UK political drama, the chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, confirmed in the morning he had received the 48 letters of no confidence from Tory MPs required to trigger a ballot on the leadership.Theresa May has vowed to fight an effort to oust her as Conservative leader and Prime Minister "with everything I've got". The vote will take place between 1800 GMT and 2000 GMT on Wednesday, with the result announced soon afterwards.May needs to secure the votes of 158 MPs - half the parliamentary party plus one - to remain as Conservative leader, though a vote of 100 or more against her will raise questions about whether she can continue.The chairman of the pro-Leave European Research Group of Tory backbenchers, Jacob Rees-Mogg, and his deputy Steve Baker said: "Theresa May's plan would bring down the government if carried forward. But our party will rightly not tolerate it. Conservatives must now answer whether they wish to draw ever closer to an election under May's leadership. In the national interest, she must go."Nonetheless, May has received public support from every MP in her Cabinet. Home Secretary Sajid Javid, touted as a possible successor, said a leadership contest would be seen as "self-indulgent and wrong".Markets in the US are set for a strong start, with the Dow Jones called up 0.9%, the S&P 500 also seen up 0.9%, and the Nasdaq on course to gain 1.2%.In the afternoon, US consumer price inflation is due out at 1330 GMT. "Global markets are on the rise, as an improved US-China trade outlook helps drive optimism despite political and fiscal instability throughout Europe," said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.US President Donald Trump has said he would consider intervening in the case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou if it would be in the interest of US national security and help forge a trade deal with China.Trump told Reuters in an interview at the White House if he thinks it would be good for what will "certainly be the largest trade deal ever made" he would intervene if necessary.A Canadian court granted bail on Tuesday to Meng, who was arrested at the US' request in a case that has set off a diplomatic furore among the three countries and complicated high-stakes US-China trade talks.Rolls-Royce was the top FTSE 100 gainer, up 3.8%, after it said it expects annual profit to be towards the upper end of its guidance range. The jet engine manufacturer expects its operating profit for 2018 to be in the upper half of its GBP300 million to GBP500 million guidance. In 2017, operating profit was GBP321 million. The estimates exclude Industria de Turbo Propulsores, acquired by Rolls Royce in December last year.WPP was up 2.8%, adding to Tuesday's 4.8% rise, after Berenberg raised the stock to Hold from Sell. On Tuesday, the advertising firm gained as it set out its restructuring plan, admitting it had become "too unwieldy, with too much duplication".John Wood slipped 6.6% despite saying it returned to growth in 2018, with its financial performance expected to be in line with views.The oilfield services firm expects proforma revenue up by more than 10% on 2017, to between USD10.9 billion and USD11.1 billion. A year ago, proforma revenue came in at USD9.88 billion.Full-year earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation is expected to be in the range of USD620 million and USD630 million. RBC Capital Markets noted the forecast fell slightly below its USD640 million prediction. In 2017 Ebita was USD598 million.J Sainsbury was down 4.6% after the supermarket said it and Asda will lodge an application with the Competition Appeal Tribunal for a judicial review of the Competition & Markets Authority's phase two investigation into their merger.The two supermarkets will ask for a review of the timetable and process, reflecting both companies' view there currently is not sufficient time to consider all the evidence given the "unprecedented scale and complexity" of the case.Specifically, Sainsbury's said they will ask the UK anti-monopoly regulator for an additional 11 working days over the Christmas period to be able to respond to a "large amount of material" recently provided to the supermarket.Firmly the worst performer in the FTSE 250 on Wednesday was Superdry, slumping 33% to take shares in the fashion retailer 80% lower in the year-to-date. For the six months ended October 27, Superdry reported pretax profit nearly tripled to GBP26.4 million from GBP9.1 million a year prior, as revenue rose 3.1% to GBP414.6 million from GBP402.0 million a year before.On an underlying basis, however, pretax profit halved to GBP12.9 million from GBP25.3 million a year before. For the full-year, Superdry expects underlying pretax profit to come in between GBP55 million to GBP70 million, significantly below consensus forecasts of GBP87 million and last year's GBP97 million. Dixons Carphone fell 8.6% after the electronics retailer swung to an interim loss and reduced its dividend.For the six months to October 27, the electronics retailer posted a GBP440 million pretax loss, compared to a GBP51 million profit a year ago. Revenue meanwhile grew marginally to GBP4.89 billion from GBP4.87 billion a year prior. Like-for-like revenue increased 2% in the half, with the second quarter up 4%.Dixons cut its interim dividend by 36% to 2.25p per share compared to its prior year's interim payout of 3.5p. Paving stone manufacturer Marshalls was up 6.8% as it expected to "exceed" full-year expectations, while it also announced the acquisition of brick maker Edenhall Holdings.Marshalls explained the boosted expectations were driven by "better" second half revenue growth which has resulted in "strong" trading. For the 11 months ended November, revenue grew 14% to GBP465 million from GBP407 million the year prior. In a separate announcement, FTSE 250-listed Marshalls announced it had acquired concrete brick manufacturer Edenhall for up to GBP17.2 million on a debt and cash free basis.