LONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks Rise As Investors Await G7 Response

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened sharply higher on Tuesday, with travel stocks finding relief, as investors became hopeful G7 countries would make a coordinated effort to tackle the spread of the coronavirus.

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from G7 countries will hold talks on Tuesday with global uncertainty rising over the coronavirus epidemic, the US Treasury said Monday.

The FTSE 100 index was up 137.33 points, or 2.1%, at 6,788.84. The FTSE 250 was up 431.40 points, or 2.2% at 19,733.10, and the AIM All-Share was up 10.13 points, or 1.2% at 871.57.

The Cboe UK 100 index was up 1.2% at 11,401.20. The Cboe UK 250 was up 1.2% at 17,524.66, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 11,389.40.

In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 1.1% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt up 1.2%.

"Yesterday's surge higher in US markets has seen markets here in Europe open higher this morning as investors bet that today's meeting of G7 finance ministers, and central bankers will come up with a joined up and cohesive response to the economic disruption caused by the various coronavirus shutdowns that are likely to impact economic activity over the next few months," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell "will lead a call with their G7 counterparts tomorrow morning", the department confirmed in a statement.

Echoing other central banks including the Bank of Japan and Bank of England, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Monday the bank was "ready to take appropriate and targeted measures as necessary" to deal with the virus outbreak's economic impact.

Lagarde is also set to participate in a telephone conference with peers later on Tuesday.

In the FTSE 100 travel stocks were among the risers, having been under severe pressure over the past week due to fears over the coronavirus on global tourism, which has seen a number of flights cancelled across the globe.

TUI was up 5.1%, International Consolidated Airlines was up 4.9% and easyJet was up 2.9%.

At the other end of the large cap index, Intertek was the worst performer, down 0.6% after the quality assurance provider expressed coronavirus concerns and its operating profit missed analyst consensus predictions.

For 2019, revenue came in at GBP2.99 billion. up 6.6% from GBP2.80 billion in 2018 and pretax profit rose 5.9% to GBP483 million from GBP456.5 million.

However, the company posted annual operating profit of GBP513.3 million, 1.1% lower than the GBP519 million consensus forecast. In addition, adjusted pretax profit for 2019 was GBP483 million, 0.6% lower than the consensus estimate of GBP486 million.

In addition, the company did note that the outbreak of coronavirus in China, which has since spread to other countries, is likely to weigh on its 2020 performance.

"Intertek is not immune to the impact of the novel coronavirus and our 2020 performance will be affected by the temporary disruption to the supply chains of our clients in China and any impact it might have on global trade activities. It is too early to quantify the impact of the novel coronavirus," said Chief Executive Andre Lacroix.

Ashtead Group shares were flat after the equipment rental firm said it delivered a third quarter of "industry-leading rental revenue growth", buoyed by a strong performance in North American end markets.

For the quarter ended January 31, revenue came in at GBP1.25 billion, up 11% from GBP1.14 billion in the third quarter a year before, but pretax profit dipped 1% to GBP225 million from GBP241 million.

On an underlying basis, third-quarter pretax profit rose 6% to GBP257 million from GBP254 million.

In the nine months to January 31, the company reported record free cash flow of GBP363 million. Ashtead - which makes a bulk of its revenue in the US via its Sunbelt unit - said over the nine month period revenue in North America rose to USD3.93 billion from USD3.39 billion.

The stock is up 17% over the past 12 months.

The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended flat.

The pound was quoted at USD1.2781 Tuesday morning, firm from USD1.2773 at the London equities close Monday.

The euro was at USD1.1146, marginally lower from USD1.1157 at the last London close. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY108.00, flat from JPY108.02.

Gold was at USD1,595.70 an ounce Tuesday morning, up from USD1,594.61 late Monday. Brent oil was priced at USD52.53 a barrel, up from USD51.70.

Ahead in the US, 14 states will cast their votes to nominate presidential candidates - who will eventually contest for the presidency in November's general election - in an event known as 'Super Tuesday'.

The economic events calendar on Tuesday has UK construction PMI at 0930 GMT and eurozone inflation readings at 1000 GMT.

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

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