LONDON MARKET OPEN: Thomas Cook Shares Drop As It Nears Rescue Deal

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Friday following a strong close in the US on Thursday, while troubled Thomas Cook's shares fell after revealing it was in rescue talks. The FTSE 100 was 17.97 points higher, or 0.2%, at 7,527.79. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 46.42 points, or 0.2%, at 19,489.58, while the AIM All-Share was flat at 917.04.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.1% at 12,751.40. The Cboe UK 250 flat at 17,378.03, while the Cboe UK Small Companies down 0.2% at 11,213.83.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris was up 0.2% and DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.1%. In the FTSE 100, International Consolidated Airlines was up 1.2% after Kepler Cheuvreux raised British Airways to Hold from Reduce.WPP was up 0.6% after the advertising company agreed to sell 60% of market research agency Kantar to private equity firm Bain Capital Private Equity, which values all of Kantar at USD4.0 billion.The FTSE 100-listed advertising firm said it expects to receive USD3.1 billion in cash after transaction costs and will continue to own 40% stake in Kantar. Additionally, WPP said it may receive some other payments during the life of its partnership with Bain Capital. The company said it will use the net proceeds to reduce its debt leverage, while about USD1.2 billion or GBP1.0 billion will be returned to shareholders. The form of this return will be communicated to shareholders in "due course", WPP said.At the other end of the large caps, Hiscox was the worst performer, down 5.1% after the insurer said conditions in the insurance market continue to deteriorate. Hiscox said it expects to deliver pretax profit for the six months ended June 30 in the range of USD150 million to USD170 million. The company estimates an investment return of USD150 million to June-end. Hiscox highlighted that the insurance market has seen continued deterioration from natural disasters in 2018, including Typhoon Jebi in Japan and Hurricane Michael in Florida. "The scale of deterioration has been significant, with industry loss estimates having increased materially since these events. As a result, and as previously announced in its first quarter trading statement, the group has strengthened reserves for prior year claims from Typhoon Jebi, Hurricane Michael and for the risk excess book. The combined impact of reserve strengthening for these events is approximately USD40 million net," Hiscox said. Hiscox added that the absence of prior year reserve releases from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, which totalled USD25 million in the first six months of 2018, means that it expects reserve releases in the first half to be materially lower than last year.In the FTSE 250, easyJet was up 2.1% after Berenberg raised the budget airline to Buy from Hold.At the other end of the midcaps, Senior was down 3.0% after Peel Hunt downgraded the aerospace and defence engineer to Hold from Add. Elsewhere, Thomas Cook was down 47% after the troubled travel agent said it was in talks with Chinese investor Fosun Tourism Group over a GBP750 million cash injection.Fosun said that it, along with Thomas Cook's "core lending banks", are considering the proposal to invest capital into the troubled firm. Fosun already is Thomas Cook's largest shareholder with an 18% stake.Thomas Cook said the investment - which will likely comprise a capital injection and new financing facilities - will see a reorganisation of the company's Tour Operator and Airline business. This will lead to Fosun owning a "significant" minority interest in Thomas Cook's Airline. The cash strapped tour operator added that its 2019 summer programme is 75% sold - slightly ahead of the year before - but its underlying earnings in the second half will be behind the year before due to the "uncertain consumer environment" in the UK. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.2% on Friday. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.4%.It was a strong session on Wall Street on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 227.88 points, or 0.9%, and the S&P 500 up 0.2%. The Dow ended above 27,000 for the first time on Thursday and the S&P closed within touching distance of the 3,000 mark.However, the Nasdaq Composite index closed down 0.1%.The latest equity milestone for the Dow, which was accompanied by a fresh record for the S&P 500, came as US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell completed a second day of congressional testimony, during which he emphasized economic risks in remarks that were widely interpreted as signaling a likely interest rate cut.The pound was quoted at USD1.2550 Friday, flat from USD1.2555 at the London equities close Thursday.The economic events calendar on Friday has eurozone industrial production figures at 1000 BST and US producer prices at 1330 BST.