LONDON MARKET OPEN: Tobacco Stocks And Johnson Matthey Propel FTSE 100

LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks overcame weakness in the US and Asia overnight to open higher on Thursday, the FTSE 100 getting some help from tobacco majors and Johnson Matthey.The FTSE 100 index was up 45.07 points, or 0.6%, at 7,239.26 on Thursday. The FTSE 250 was up 58.70 points, or 0.3%, at 18,952.44, while the AIM All-Share index was up 0.3% at 913.29.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.7% at 12,278.76. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 16,977.64, and the Cboe UK Small Companies down 0.1% at 11,110.71.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were both up 0.1% in early trade."European markets have opened on a modestly positive note, despite a negative lead from both US and Asia markets, as growth concerns continue to temper investor sentiment," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.9%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended down 0.1%.In the UK, members of Parliament voted against all eight Brexit alternatives put before them after John Bercow warned Prime Minister Theresa May is not guaranteed to be allowed a third meaningful vote on her deal.The first day of the indicative vote process failed to find a proposal which commanded a Commons majority, with its developer Tory former minister Oliver Letwin saying it was a "very great disappointment".A lengthy day of Brexit drama in the Commons burst into life earlier on Wednesday as House of Commons Speaker John Bercow issued a fresh warning that substantial changes are required to allow a third meaningful vote on May's Brexit deal."Last night's votes also don't tell us that much about what the EU will accept even if MPs agree, which means that for all the noise about the withdrawal agreement MPs are attempting to steer the next stage of the negotiation process, which seems a little like putting the cart before the horse," commented CMC's Hewson. Sterling was quoted at USD1.3132 early Thursday, down from USD1.3222 at the London equities close on Wednesday.Tobacco stocks Imperial Brands and British American Tobacco were leading the FTSE 100 higher early Thursday following upgrades from Citigroup. Imperial rose 2.2% while BAT gained 2.1% after Citigroup raised both stocks to Buy from Neutral.In third place among the blue-chips was Johnson Matthey, up 1.3% as it made two "major milestones" in the commercialisation of its portfolio of ultra-high energy battery cathode materials.The FTSE 100 constituent said it has secured a site in Poland for the construction of a commercial plant for eLNO - its portfolio of ultra-high energy battery cathode materials - with room for "significant" expansion.Johnson Matthey also has secured a supply of lithium via a long-term agreement with Nemaska Lithium."These two important developments will enable JM to meet customers' commercial scale requirements for eLNO. They demonstrate that JM is on track with its plans to start commercial production in 2021/22 and to be supplying platforms in production in 2022/23, both of which are in line with our strategy for break out growth in battery materials," it said. Weighing at the bottom of the FTSE 100 were a number of ex-dividend stocks, such as asset manager Schroders, down 2.5%, and insurer Prudential, down 1.8%.In the FTSE 250, Sabre Insurance fell 2.0%. It reported a rise in profit for 2018 and remained confident in its outlook despite "challenging" dynamics in the UK car insurance sector.Gross written premiums dipped marginally to GBP210.0 million in 2018 from GBP210.7 million in 2017, though net earned premiums edged up to GBP188.2 million from GBP186.9 million. Pretax profit rose to GBP61.4 million from GBP55.5 million the year before.The motor insurer's combined operating ratio rose to 70.6% from 68.5% the year before, meaning its underwriting was slightly less profitable.Sabre Insurance declared a final dividend of 6.8p and a special dividend of 6.0p, bringing the total for the year to 20p. The firm did not pay a dividend in 2017.Metro Bank slipped 2.0% after Barclays initiated the challenger bank with an Underweight rating.Elsewhere on the London Main Market, shares in funeral services provider Dignity dipped 3.4% after the UK competition regulator launched a probe into the sector.The UK Competition & Markets Authority on Thursday said it remains "concerned about the effectiveness of competition" in the funeral sector, and thus will carry out an in-depth investigation.This will focus on both the supply of services by funeral directors and also crematoria services.The CMA highlighted the rising costs of organising a funeral as well as high prices in relation to crematoria services, noting that the largest private operators have implemented average crematoria price rises of between 6% and 8% each year for the past 8 years.The London-listed funeral services provider said it has engaged "constructively" with the CMA since the market study was announced in June 2019 and has made public its support for such a probe."Dignity has made clear that we welcome the CMA's investigation into the funeral market and look forward to continuing our work with the CMA and other industry bodies to protect consumers," said Chief Executive Mike McCollum.Mitie fell 5.0% after the outsourcer said it expects slight profit growth in its soon-to-end financial year, while it has made progress on reducing debt.Revenue growth for the financial year ending on Sunday is expected to be between 7% to 8%, with underlying sales up 4%. Operating profit before "other items" is expected around GBP84 million to GBP87 million, above the year before's GBP83.2 million.Net debt continues to reduce, the firm added, with the figure at the period end expected around GBP160 million to GBP180 million, versus GBP186.7 million at the end of the first half.Looking ahead, Mitie expects to continue to grow organic revenue at a rate of 3% to 4%. Operating profit is expected to show "moderate" growth in the coming financial year.The economic events calendar on Thursday has eurozone consumer confidence data at 1000 GMT, US GDP readings at 1230 GMT, and Germany inflation figures at 1300 GMT.Capital Economics thinks the final estimate of fourth quarter US GDP is likely to be revised down from the initial reading of 2.6%.