LONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks Edge Higher As Investors Await Fed Minutes

(Alliance News) - London stocks got off to an upbeat start on Wednesday as investors anticipate the latest minutes from the US Federal Reserve, as a bumper few days of central banker commentary gets underway, with the Jackson Hole symposium commencing on Thursday.The FTSE 100 was up 31.81 points, or 0.5%, at 7,156.81. The FTSE 250 was up 53.50 points, or 0.3%, at 19,061.59 and the AIM All-Share was up 0.3% at 868.10.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.5% at 12,130.13. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 16,961.37 and the Cboe UK Small Companies was 0.3% lower at 10,860.30.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were 0.6% and 0.4% higher respectively in opening trade.In Asia on Wednesday, stocks were mixed. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended flat, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.2% in late dealings.In the economic calendar for the day ahead, there is UK public sector net borrowing at 0930 BST and US existing home sales at 1500 BST. After the London market close, at 1900 BST, the US Federal Reserve releases minutes from its most-recent policy meeting, held at the end of July."The Fed minutes tonight could be interesting but they also feel outdated at this point, a lot has happened since the meeting. It's Jackson Hole that really has everyone excited and should lay the groundwork for the final few months of the year for markets and interest rates. No pressure Jerome," said Craig Erlam at Oanda.With central banking the main focus of this week, the Jackson Hole symposium kicks off on Thursday and will see remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Ahead of this, US President Donald Trump downplayed concerns over a possible recession in the US, but urged the Fed to cut interest rates by a full percentage point."We are very far from a recession," Trump said at the White House on Tuesday, accusing some members of the news media of wanting to see a downturn."We really need a Fed rate cut," Trump said, arguing that there cannot be a large "disparity" between rates in the US and elsewhere in the developed world. "We have to at least keep up to an extent."In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel later Wednesday, the first in a series of meetings with European and world leaders over the coming days.Johnson will travel to Berlin where he will discuss Brexit-related issues with the German premier over dinner, before heading to Paris on Thursday to meet French President Emmanuel Macron. On Saturday, Johnson will be at the G7 summit where he will meet other world leaders including US president Donald Trump.The meetings come as Johnson has reiterated his opposition to the Northern Irish backstop, saying he will not support any withdrawal agreement that includes it."Both the UK and the EU have maintained their respective stances regarding the Irish backstop in the Withdrawal Agreement. As such, no breakthrough in negotiations is anticipated this week," commented Lloyds Banking.Among stocks helping London's FTSE 100 push higher on Wednesday was Rolls-Royce, up 1.5%. Sky News reported the engine maker is in advanced talks to sell the majority of its International Instrumentation & Control unit.According to Sky, a French-led consortium, Framatome, is willing to pay about GBP100 million for a portion of the civil nuclear business. Framatome, a nuclear reactor firm, is majority-owned by EDF Energy, and part-owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Assystem.Citing City sources, Sky said the deal is likely to be announced in the coming weeks.In the FTSE 250, outsourcer Capita was up 4.5% after Goldman Sachs raised the firm to Buy from Neutral.Meanwhile, Charter Court Financial Services and OneSavings Bank were down 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively.Both lenders reported loan book growth ahead of their planned merger, and both saw interim profit dip. OneSavings's net loans at June 30 stood at GBP9.9 billion, 22% higher year on year from GBP8.1 billion and 10% higher from the GBP9.0 billion seen at the end of 2018. Pretax profit fell slightly to GBP91.0 million from GBP91.8 million the year before. OneSavings booked a GBP5.9 million charge in the half for expenses related to its merger with Charter Court.Meanwhile, Charter Court saw its loan book end the half at GBP7.0 billion, 23% higher than GBP5.7 billion a year before and 4.5% higher than GBP6.7 billion at the end of 2018.Similar to OneSavings, Charter Court's pretax profit slipped in the first half, declining 11% to GBP82.6 million from GBP93.1 million a year before. The decline included a GBP3.8 million charge from the proposed merger.OneSavings and Charter Court agreed an all-share merger in March, with OneSavings offering 0.8253 of a share for each Charter Court share. Under the deal, Charter Court shareholders will own 45% of the group and OneSavings the rest. Elsewhere on the Main Market, Costain shares jumped 12% after saying it is on track to deliver growth in 2020 after a significant decrease in earnings in the first half of 2019 due to contract delays.The infrastructure construction and engineering firm said its revenue declined 22% in the six months to the end of June to GBP594.1 million from the GBP758.7 million reported a year earlier, resulting in a reduction in pretax profit to GBP8.4 million from a restated GBP19.9 million."While, as previously announced, delays to certain contract start dates and new awards, together with a contract cancellation will impact our full year performance, we are pleased that the group has continued to secure significant new work during the first half," said Chief Executive Alex Vaughan.