LONDON MARKET OPEN: Trade Hopes Give Lift; BAT Hurt By Court Decision

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were higher on Monday, with the FTSE 100 rising back above the 7,100 mark on raised hopes for a trade deal between the US and China, while shares in Daily Mail & General Trust rose after pledging to return cash and Euromoney shares to DMGT shareholders. The FTSE 100 was 23.90 points higher, or 0.3%, at 7,130.63. The FTSE 250 was up 59.54 points, or 0.3%, at 19,459.19, while the AIM All-Share index was 0.2% higher at 917.44.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.5% at 12,113.74, while the Cboe UK 250 was 0.2% higher, at 17,358.34. The Cboe UK Small Companies was marginally lower at 11,110.8."In a rare sight, both the UK index and sterling started the week putting their best foot forward. While the FTSE benefited from a decent showing from its mining and banking stocks, allowing it to re-cross 7,100 for the umpteenth time this year," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell. The pound was quoted at USD1.3242 early Monday, higher from USD1.3222 at the London equities close Friday.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt climbed 0.3%.Sentiment was given a boost after the Wall Street Journal over the weekend reported that the US and China are close to reaching a trade deal that could lift US tariffs on imports from China. The newspaper said China is offering to lower tariffs on US products in categories ranging from farms to chemicals and autos.In addition, US and Chinese trade teams wrapped up the latest round of negotiations last week. The talks were "intensive and productive", and "so far have achieved substantive progress on issues of mutual interest," said Zhang Yesui, a spokesman for this year's annual parliamentary session, the National People's Congress.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.0% in response. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 1.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended up 0.5%.In the FTSE 100, Rightmove was up 3.7%, rebounding from losses on Friday amid concerns the property portal's agency numbers dropped last year. The stock closed down 2.1% on Friday.At the other end of the large cap index, British American Tobacco was the worst performer, down 1.8% as the Quebec Court of Appeal after the market close on Friday dismissed an appeal by three tobacco companies against a CAD15.60 billion judgement against them in class action lawsuits that have been running for some 20 years.The three companies facing the class action are the wholly-owned subsidiaries of BAT, Philip Morris International, and Japan Tobacco in Canada, being Imperial Tobacco Canada, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, and JTI MacDonald, respectively.Rolls-Royce Holdings was down 0.5%. The jet engine maker has reined in efforts to join a fighter jet programme being developed by Turkey, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.Rolls-Royce had been working with Turkish industrial company Kale Group to bid for the contract to develop the TF-X jet. The jet would have been the first locally made jet in Turkey.However, talks between Rolls-Royce and Turkey were said to have run into issues last year over matters relating to intellectual property sharing and the involvement of a Qatari-Turkish firm. After failing to find a compromise, Rolls-Royce was reported to have "all but abandoned" its efforts to win the contract.In the FTSE 250, Syncona was up 4.4% after the life sciences investor said its investee company Nightstar Therapeutics is to be acquired by US biotechnology company Biogen for USD877 million.At the other end of the midcap index, Rotork was the worst performer, down 7.5%. The valve actuators maker cautioned of a slowdown in revenue in 2019 despite posting strong 2018 results. For recent year, Rotork reported pretax profit rose 50% to GBP120.7 million from GBP80.6 million in 2017 and revenue increased 8.3% to GBP695.7 million from GBP642.2 million. Rotork hiked its 2018 dividend by 9.3% to 5.90 pence from 5.40p the prior year. However, Rotork said after "double digit [organic constant currency] growth" in 2018, it was "mindful" of macroeconomic uncertainty, and as such was anticipating slower 2019 growth and modest sales.Euromoney Institutional Investor was down 3.1% after Daily Mail & General Trust said it will distribute Euromoney Institutional Investor shares directly to DGMT shareholders, plus a GBP200 million cash return, together worth around GBP896 million. The newspaper publisher said the number of DMGT 'A' shares also will be reduced as part of the capital distributions. Rothmere shareholders will not participate in Euromoney share return and only partially in the cash return and share reduction. Voting ordinary shareholders won't participate at all. Daily Mail & General Trust said each 'A' share will receive 0.19933 Euromoney share, plus 68.13p in cash. DMGT shares were up 5.4% at 682.00p. Ted Baker was down 2.0% after the fashion retailer said Chief Executive Officer Ray Kelvin resigned with immediate effect following allegations of misconduct made against him.Kelvin took a voluntary leave of absence from his role as CEO of Ted Baker in December last year, after he was accused by the FTSE 250-listed company's staff of forced "hugging" and inappropriate touching and comments. Kelvin has denied all allegations of misconduct.Since then, the company commissioned the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills to investigate the allegations. It is expected that Herbert Smith Freehills will conclude its investigation at the end of the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2019.Ted Baker said acting Chief Executive Officer Lindsay Page has agreed to continue in this role.In political news, UK Prime Minister Theresa May was given a Brexit boost as key Tories signalled swinging behind her stance in exchange for movement on the Northern Irish backstop.Chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tories Graham Brady expressed optimism that a breakthrough on the backstop was close.The hardline European Research Group of Tory MPs led by Jacob Rees-Mogg also indicated a more conciliatory tone on the issue.The ERG has drawn up "three tests" the government must pass to win backing, according to the Sunday Times.A light economic events calendar on Monday has eurozone producer prices at 1000 GMT.