LONDON MARKET OPEN: Weak Pound Sends FTSE Higher As Ashtead Gains

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened higher on Tuesday with the FTSE 100 boosted by weakness in the pound, while big dollar earner Ashtead rose after reporting solid half-year earnings The FTSE 100 index gained 36.32 points, or 0.5%, to 6,757.86 in early trade Tuesday. The FTSE 250 was up 27.32 points, or 0.2%, at 17,519.63 and the AIM All-Share was 0.4% lower at 881.91.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.4% at 11,469.70, while the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 15,561.68. The Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 11,040.85.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively.Sentiment also was lifted as China and the US discussed a road map for future trade talks during a phone call between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Donald Trump agreed to a 90-day ceasefire in their trade war to allow time for negotiations between the world's two largest economies. It is expected that Liu will soon travel to the US for talks.On the London Stock Exchange, Ashtead Group was the best performer, up 4.5% after the equipment rental firm delivered strong half-year earnings and said its full-year will be ahead of expectations.For the six months ended October 31, revenue rose 19% to GBP2.25 billion from GBP1.90 billion last year, and pretax profit increased 25% to GBP610.0 million from GBP493.1 million the year before. Ashtead raised its interim dividend 18% to 6.5 pence from 5.5 pence last year. The company added that it has spent GBP425.0 million on its share buyback programme so far this year. Additionally, it is spending GBP125 million per quarter on share buybacks with the programme continuing through the 2019 financial year and an anticipated spend of at least GBP500 million in financial 2020. WPP was up 4.2% after the advertising company said it will simplify its business structure, invest in its creative leadership, and dispose of under-performing businesses as part of a three-year business improvement strategy.New Chief Executive Officer Mark Read stamped his authority on WPP as he outlined his "radical evolution" vision, saying the company will make additional investments in "creativity, technology and talent". Read took the reins in September after the April departure of founder & CEO Martin Sorrell.WPP is targeting like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs growth in line with its peers and headline operating profit margin, excluding associates, of at least 15% by the end of 2021.For 2018, WPP anticipates reporting results in line with consensus expectations, with full-year like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs growth now expected to fall by around 0.5%.Intertek was up 3.0% after Deutsche Bank raised the testing, inspection and certification services provider to Buy from Hold. At the other end of the large cap index, Standard Life Aberdeen was the worst performer, down 3.5% after RBC Capital downgraded the investment manager to Sector Perform from Outperform. Supermarkets were in the red after Kantar Worldpanel said the UK grocery sector was growing at its slowest rate since March 2017 in the 12 weeks to December 2. WM Morrison Supermarkets was down 1.5% after data from Kantar showed the grocer's market share edged down to 10.5% in the 12 weeks from 10.6%.Tesco was down 1.3% after its market share slipped to 27.6% from 28.2% and J Sainsbury was down 0.8% after its market share shrunk to 16.0% from 16.4%.The pound was quoted at USD1.2606 early Tuesday, up from USD1.2535 at the London equities close Monday, recovering after the shock of the Brexit vote in Parliament being called off on Monday. Sterling hit an intraday low of USD1.2506 on Monday, its worst level since April 2017.May is heading for emergency Brexit talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday after leaving Westminster in turmoil.The prime minister's move to abandon a crunch Commons vote on her Brexit deal drew howls of condemnation from the opposition as well as a number of Tories. May took the decision to pull the vote, scheduled for Tuesday, as she admitted to MPs she faced a "significant" defeat on her Brexit agenda.The PM also will meet Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte in The Hague on Tuesday in a bid to gain reassurances on the exit deal from European leaders ahead of a crunch EU summit on Thursday.May, who is facing repeated calls from leading Tory Brexiteers to be replaced as PM, was forced to abandon the Commons vote as the scale of opposition to the Brexit deal, especially regarding proposed backstop arrangements for the Irish border, threatened a crushing rejection of her plans."Any new concessions likely to be offered will be cosmetic rather than substantive, and so will be highly unlikely to shift the arithmetic among MPs, suggesting that Brexit uncertainty is only going to ramp higher still in the New Year," said analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.4%, while the Hang Seng index closed Hong Kong is up 0.1%.Asian stock markets ended mixed on Tuesday after US stocks managed a late-stage recovery in a volatile session overnight. Worries about global economic growth and US-China trade tensions have weighed on investor sentiment.The economic events calendar on Tuesday has UK unemployment figures at 0930 GMT and US producer prices at 1330 GMT.The UK unemployment rate is expected to be unchanged at 4.1%.