LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Pound Softens After UK PMI; GVC Helps Lift FTSE

LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 was enjoying a second consecutive session in the green on Tuesday, helped by gains from GVC Holdings, Vodafone and NMC Health. In addition, a weaker pound was also providing some support to London's blue-chip index after data showed UK service sector activity improved in February, but indicated that the economy is running close to standstill.The FTSE 100 index was 19.72 points higher, up 0.3%, at 7,154.11 Tuesday midday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 32.24 points, or 0.2%, at 19,379.19, while the AIM All-Share index was down 0.3% at 912.78.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.3% at 12,147.09, while the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 17,330.78, and the Cboe UK Small Companies up 0.1% at 11,157.72."In London the FTSE 100 is playing catch-up, continuing its steady gains from the lows of last week, shrugging off the weaker China PMI numbers and the worrying opening of a new front in the 'USA versus everyone else' trade war," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.The softer pound was providing the overseas earnings-heavy FTSE 100 with some support. Sterling was quoted at USD1.3155 at midday, lower than USD1.3175 late Monday.This was after the latest IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index revealed the UK services sector picked up slightly in February but activity still remained subdued, indicating the economy is treading water.The seasonally adjusted Services Business Activity Index came in at 51.3 in February, up from a two-and-a-half year low of 50.1 in January. February's score signalled the sector strengthened with the reading moving further above the no-change mark of 50. "However, the latest reading signalled only a marginal increase in service sector business activity. February data leaves the index on track for its weakest quarter since Q4 2012," noted IHS Markit, adding that the average reading so far in the first quarter of the year is 50.7, only just in expansion territory.IHS Markit said the services data suggest the UK economy is on track to print just 0.1% growth in the first quarter of 2019.ING said that "the bottom line" is that growth will likely stall over the coming weeks as the March 29 Brexit deadline looms. "With that in mind, we suspect growth will be capped at 0.2% or below for the first quarter as a whole. What happens after that depends heavily on whether May's deal passes - or if there is an Article 50 extension, how long it is slated to last," said ING economist James Smith.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.2%, and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was 0.1% lower at midday.The eurozone's private sector activity registered slightly better growth than first thought, data from IHS Markit showed, but nonetheless remained muted. The composite PMI reading was finalized at 51.9 points in February, up from the flash reading of 51.4 and January's score of 51.0. Still to come in Tuesday's economic calendar is a services PMI for the US at 1445 GMT.Ahead of this, Wall Street is on course for a higher start with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all called up 0.1%.In political news, US President Donald Trump has said he plans to terminate India and Turkey's preferential trade treatment.Trump made the announcement in letters to Congress, with copies distributed by the White House press office late Monday. Trump has 60 days before he can act on the matter on his own authority.The generalized system of preferences scheme allows the countries duty-free exports of some 2,000 industrial and textile products to the US."I have determined that India has not assured the US that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to the markets of India," Trump wrote Monday.Turkey should not be classed under the Generalised System of Preferences, as a "beneficiary developing country based on its level of economic development," the president added in a separate letter, pointing to the country's increase in gross national income per capita, declining poverty rates and export diversification."The president's decision to target Turkey and India should be viewed as a worrying development, suggesting that he is not yet minded to trim his attitude despite the looming 2020 election," said IG's Beauchamp. Helping the FTSE 100 higher on Tuesday was GVC Holdings, up 2.8% after the sports-betting firm hiked its dividend following a rise in underlying profit for 2018. Underlying pretax profit - excluding one-off costs - nearly tripled to GBP434.6 million in 2018 from GBP151.0 million the year prior. Net gaming revenue was up more than three-fold to GBP2.98 billion from GBP815.9 million the year before.Revenue performance was helped by GVC's GBP3.2 billion acquisition of peer Ladbrokes Coral Group in March 2018.Shares in Vodafone were up 2.9% after the telecommunications firm said it plans to raise around EUR4 billion through the issue of mandatory convertible bonds to fund its acquisition of some assets from US cable firm Liberty Global.The sterling denominated bonds are to be issued in two tranches maturing no later than March 2021 and 2022 respectively, with the initial conversion price to be announced by Vodafone after the market close on Friday.Proceeds from the bond issue will go towards partly financing the acquisition of Liberty Global assets in Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, as well as bank loan refinancing and corporate purposes.UAE-focused private healthcare operator NMC Health was up 1.6% as it signed definitive agreements to establish a healthcare joint venture in Saudi Arabia.NMC finalised the agreement with Hassana Investment Co, the investment arm of the Saudi Arabia's largest pension fund, General Organization for Social Insurance. NMC will own an 52% operating interest in the established joint venture, while Hassana will own 48%.The FTSE 100 constituent first signed the agreement to establish a Saudi Arabian joint venture with Hassana in June 2018.At the bottom of the blue-chips was safety-testing firm Intertek, down 3.1% despite hiking its 2018 dividend by two fifths after profit growth surpassed analyst expectations.In 2018, pretax profit widened 2.8% to GBP404.5 million from GBP393.3 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 1.1% to GBP2.80 billion from GBP2.77 billion in 2017.On an adjusted basis - excluding exceptional costs - pretax profit widened 4.0% to GBP456.5 million from GBP438.8 million in 2017.Overall, profit was slightly ahead of analyst expectations despite a modest disappointment to revenue forecasts. According to company-compiled consensus figures, the market expected adjusted pretax profit of GBP455 million on revenue of GBP2.81 billion.Elsewhere on the Main Market, GoCompare shares rose 6.8% after Chair Peter Wood raised his stake his stake to 29.9%, believing the online price comparison company's share price does not reflect the momentum in the firm. Wood bought 17.8 million Gocompare shares on Monday for 63.70 pence per share in a deal worth GBP11.3 million."My share purchase underlines my view, which is shared by my fellow board members, that the current Gocompare share price does not fully reflect the operational and strategic momentum in the business," Wood said.Elsewhere, struggling department store Debenhams fell 6.3%. The retailer said it no longer expects to deliver annual profit in line with market views following a decline in sales in the first half of its current financial year.Debenhams reported a fall in gross transaction value of 5.4% for the 26 weeks to this past Saturday, with like-for-like sales down by 5.3%. UK sales slipped by 6.0% with International sales down 2.3%. More positively, online sales grew by 2.0% over the period."We don't know quite how badly profits will be hit as yet, but the fact Debenhams has ushered out an unscheduled trading statement tells us its forthcoming interim results aren't going to make for pleasant reading," commented Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.