(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London rebounded on Tuesday after incurring heavy losses on Monday, while soft-drinks maker AG Barr surged after saying annual profit will come in ahead of expectations.
The FTSE 100 index was up 24.68 points, or 0.3% at 7,436.73.
The FTSE 250 was up 64.01 points, or 0.3% at 21,367.68, and the AIM All-Share was flat at 953.92.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.3% 12,600.20. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 19,284.66, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 12,402.40.
In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt up 0.4%.
The US, Japan and other nations raced Tuesday to get their citizens out of the locked-down Chinese city at ground zero of the coronavirus epidemic, as the death toll surged to 106 and the number of confirmed infections doubled to over 4,500.
The contagion, which experts believe emanated from a wild animal market in the city of Wuhan last month, has triggered a desperate Chinese containment effort after spreading nationwide and to more than a dozen other countries.
The government has sealed off Wuhan and other cities in central Hubei province, effectively trapping more than 50 million people, including thousands of foreigners, in a bid to contain the virus as the high-travel Lunar New Year holiday continues.
Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson commented: "We see some relief early doors for Europe but global equity markets are still rocking, with boards lit up red as investors manage risk in the face of China's coronavirus outbreak. There are no signs of this letting up - but at least market expectations have shifted markedly since the middle of last week to better reflect the risk of a rapid rise in confirmed cases.
"The problem is investors have very limited visibility of the current situation in China, have virtually zero knowledge of epidemiology and virology, and have no clue how bad it will get or how lasting the impact will be. Risk models are not geared for this situation."
In the FTSE 100 index in London, Standard Chartered was up 1.0% after Investec raised the emerging markets-focused lender to Buy from Hold.
Just Eat was up 1.0% after the online takeaway platform said 2019 ended in line with expectations, and it expects to report underlying earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation of around GBP200 million. In 2018, Just Eat reported underlying EBITDA of GBP173.9 million.
It also expects group orders of 254 million and annual revenue of about GBP1.0 billion. UK order growth in 2019 came in at 8%. In 2018, Just Eat delivered revenue of GBP779.5 million.
The UK competition regulator on Friday stepped into the acquisition of Just Eat by Takeaway.com, saying it would look into whether the combination would lessen competition in the UK takeaway platform sector.
Just Eat also it has signed an agreement with US fast food giant Mcdonald's Corp to become its second delivery partner in the UK and Ireland after arch enemy Uber Eats.
At the other end of the London large-cap index, Diageo was the worst performer, down 1.1% after JPMorgan downgraded the brewer and distiller to Underweight from Neutral.
In the FTSE 250, AG Barr was the best performer, up 15% after the soft drinks maker said annual adjusted pretax profit is expected to be at the top end of current market expectations - just ahead of GBP37 million.
Revenue for financial 2019 is expected at GBP255 million, down from GBP279 million in financial 2018.
The company will report annual results for the financial year ended last Saturday, on March 24.
AG Barr said the trading "landscape remains challenging" but expects to end the year with encouraging trading momentum which it expects to continue into 2020.
Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Nick Hyett said: "AG Barr endured a pretty miserable 2019, as higher prices dented volumes. However, it looks like the improved margins and relatively healthy winter sales have added some fizz to the year end, giving management a cautiously optimistic note in this trading update.
"While 2020 will benefit from less demanding comparatives, an increasingly health conscious consumer remains a challenge for the group and we'll be interested to see how new low sugar alternatives to the famously sugary IRN-BRU have been faring when full year results come out in March."
The pound was quoted at USD1.3020 Tuesday morning, lower than USD1.3056 at the London equities close Monday, ahead of Thursday's interest rate decision from the Bank of England.
The euro was trading at USD1.1021 early Tuesday, flat from USD1.1020 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY109.03, up from JPY108.93 late Monday.
Gold was priced at USD1,578.38 an ounce Tuesday morning, down from USD1,582.00 at the London equities close Monday.
Oil was quoted at USD59.12 a barrel Tuesday, up from USD58.90 late Monday.
Ahead in the economic events calendar, the US Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting begins on Tuesday, with the interest rate decision on Wednesday.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.6%. Financial markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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Standard Chartered (STAN)
Diageo (DGE)
Barr (A.G.) (BAG)