UK MORNING BRIEFING: Petra Diamonds Finds 232-Carat White Stone

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened with surprising strength Tuesday, shrugging off another opinion poll showing the "Yes" vote for Scottish independence gaining ground.

FTSE 250 miner Petra Diamonds is leading all FTSE 350 stocks, up 6.2%, after revealing that it has recovered an "exceptional" 232.08 carat white diamond at its Cullinan mine in South Africa, the third exceptional find at the mine this year.

Fertilizer may not be as glamorous as diamonds, but African Potash is near the top of AIM after releasing positive drilling results. The stock is up 13%.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 6,845.87
FTSE 250: up 0.3% at 15,814.90
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 777.50
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Hang Seng: closed for holiday
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.3% at 15,749.15
DJIA: closed down 0.2% at 17,111.42
S&P 500: closed down 0.3% at 2,001.54
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GBP-USD: flat at USD1.6097
EUR-USD: down at USD1.2882

GOLD: down at USD1,255.13 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD100.07 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)

09:30 UK BOE's Governor Carney speech
09:30 UK Industrial and Manufacturing Production
09:30 UK Trade Balance
12:30 US NFIB Business Optimism Index
13:15 Canada Housing Starts
13:55 US Redbook index
15:00 US Fed's Tarullo speech
15:00 UK NIESR GDP Estimate
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Like-for-like retail sales in the UK were up 1.3% on year in August, the British Retail Consortium said. That topped forecasts for an increase of 0.3% following the 0.3% contraction in July. Total sales climbed an annual 2.7%, slowing from 3.6% a year earlier.
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A new opinion poll published Tuesday showed a swing to Scotland's pro-independence camp, leaving it tied with the pro-unionists at 41%, nine days before Scots vote on whether to leave the UK. The poll of 990 people by TNS showed support for independence among those certain to vote was up by 3 percentage points from 38% last month, while support for the union was down from 46%.
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The EU delayed Monday a new set of sanctions against Russia, saying that the reprieve would be used to assess the tenuous ceasefire reached in Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists. The West has accused Moscow of fuelling the conflict in eastern Ukraine by sending heavy weapons, fighters and troops into the neighbouring country. The new measures planned by the bloc would further limit Moscow's access to European financial markets and exports, according to diplomats.
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Iraq's parliament Monday approved a national unity government under Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to face the threat of the Islamic State extremist group. Of the parliament's 328 deputies, 177 voted in favour of the government programme proposed by al-Abadi, a member of the Shiite Islamist Daawa party. Kurdish lawmakers only joined the session after al-Abadi had already started speaking and said they were giving him three months to resolve outstanding issues.
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Members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board said that the country's economy is likely to continue its moderate recovery, minutes from the bank's August 7-8 meeting revealed on Tuesday.
The members added that inflation expectations appear to be rising as the country continues to battle the deflationary pressures that have plagued it for the last 15 years. That's largely because of the consumption tax hike in April, although the higher tax also caused a sharp decline in demand.
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Consumer confidence in Japan decreased unexpectedly in August, data from the Cabinet Office showed. The consumer confidence index fell to 41.2 in August from 41.5 in July. Economists had expected the index to rise to 42.3.
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Stand-in striker Danny Welbeck scored both goals as England beat Switzerland 2-0 in Basel on Monday to make a convincing start to their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. The recently-signed Arsenal striker finished off a fine break involving captain Wayne Rooney and Raheem Sterling on 58 minutes and sealed the win in injury time with a well-taken second.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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HSBC RAISES LLOYDS TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL') - PRICE TARGET 90 PENCE
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HSBC RAISES BARCLAYS TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL') - PRICE TARGET 270 PENCE
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HSBC RAISES NATIONAL EXPRESS TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 285 PENCE
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UBS ADDS IAG TO 'MOST PREFERRED' LIST IN EUROPEAN TRANSPORT
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP RAISES MORRISONS TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Whitbread said its sales were boosted in both the 11 weeks and 24 weeks to August 14, with its Premier Inn hotel chain continuing to win market share and its Costa Coffee business increasing sales across the board. Total sales for the group in the 11 weeks to August 14 were up 13%, pushed higher by a 15% rise for the Premier Inn business and a 18% increase for Costa. Like-for-like sales at Premier Inn in the same period were up 9.2%, while Costa like-for-like sales rose 7.3%.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Galliford Try said its Miller Construction unit, which it only bought in July, has been appointed by Network Rail to deliver building enhancements and property improvements across three framework contracts, which are valued at up to GBP250 million over the next five years. In a statement, Galliford Try said Miller Construction unit will deliver new stations, station enhancements, platform extensions, depots, office buildings and property refurbishments projects on the Central Region East Midlands route and the London Northwest-North route.
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Fenner said it expects its full-year results to be in line with expectations, saying trading patterns have remained broadly unchanged since its interim management statement in July. The company, which makes industrial belting and other polymer-based products, said it has been working to restructure its business activities in line with the markets in which it operates and said it expects this restructuring work to result in an exceptional charge to its results in the second half of the year.
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John Wood Group said Wood Group PSN, its brownfield service provider, has secured a contract with Woodside Energy Ltd to boost its project portfolio in Western Australia. As part of the contract, Wood Group PSN will provide Woodside, Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company, with engineering, procurement and construction management services for its Karratha gas plant life-extension programme as well as modification and refurbishment services to Woodside's Production Projects Group across all its onshore and offshore assets. No financial details were provided about the contract.
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Oxford Instruments said it expects a "more pronounced" second half weighting than usual, as good order intake in its first half underpins its revenue projections for the rest of the year, in a statement ahead of its annual general meeting. The technology tools and systems company said orders in the year to date continue to be ahead of the previous year at both actual and constant currencies.
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Petra Diamonds said it had recovered an "exceptional" 232.08 carat white diamond at its Cullinan mine in South Africa, the third exceptional find at the mine this year. In a statement, the company said the latest big stone it has found is a D colour Type II diamond of "exceptional size and clarity". It expects to sell the stone in the second quarter of its financial year, which began July 1.
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Pennon Group said South West Water executive Susan Davy will become its new finance director, after David Dupont said he will retire in a few months after more than 12 years in the role. Dupont will retire at the end of January, 2015, with Davy taking up the role at that time.
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Recently merged Dixons Carphone said like-for-like sales were up across the Dixons Retail business in the fiscal first quarter, but were down 6% in the Carphone Warehouse business due to difficult market conditions in Spain and a particularly strong performance across the business a year earlier. In a short trading update, the company said like-for-like sales at the Dixons Retail business were up 4% in the UK and Ireland in the three months to August 2, up 1% in the Nordic region, and up 6% in Greece, which the company called encouraging.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Quindell said it has received judgement in its favour in its libel action against Gotham City Research LLP, the short seller which in April published a critical 74-page report that led to a fall in the software, consultancy and technology outsourcing provider's share price. In a statement, Quindell said the "process of the evaluation of quantum in damages" will begin at the end of November.
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Abcam said it has promoted Alan Hirzel to the position of chief executive officer, succeeding Jonathan Milner who will take up the role of deputy chairman, and posted a rise in pretax profit for the year to end-June. Hirzel moves to the position from his previous role as chief marketing officer. Milner, who held the role for sixteen years, said that he remains "fully committed" to Abcam and expressed his "full confidence" in Hirzel. The life science research tool supplier raised its total dividend for the year to 7.75 pence, up from 7.04 pence.
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CareTech Holdings said its learning services arm has won a competitive tender for the Head for Success pilot project being run by the UK's Department for Work and Pensions. CareTech said the learning services business, created following the acquisition of training provider EQL Solutions last year, has won a place on the 18-month contract, taking place in Hampshire and Dorset, which will seek to help people recovering from mental health conditions back into the workplace.
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Picton Property Income said it had bought a freehold city centre retail property in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire for nearly GBP9.1 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.5%.
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Blur H1 Pretax Loss USD4.8M Vs USD2.3M; Revenue USD5.7M Vs USD1.4M
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Hargreaves Services FY Continuing Pretax Profit GBP52.1M, Up 21% From GBP43.1M; Full-Year Dividend 25.5p, Up 24% From 20.5p; Says Recent Trading In UK Has Been Encouraging
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African Potash Intersects Potash Mineralisation At Lac Dinga Project; Says Drilling of Second Hole Has Begun
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Chinese online retailer Alibaba is, by some counts, the world's biggest marketplace, and its initial public offering (IPO) could be the largest the world has ever seen. The internet giant began some 100 slated presentations on three continents Monday in a two-week roadshow to convince potential investors of its worth. Wall Street traders scent lucrative business. To be the biggest in history, Alibaba's listing has to beat the USD22 billion dollars achieved by the Agricultural Bank of China in 2010 in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and its chances look good.
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Telefonica Deutschland Holding, the German unit of Spanish telecom operator Telefonica, said Monday that it will sell shares worth EUR3.62 billion to help partially finance its acquisition of the German mobile telecom business E-Plus from Dutch telecom operator Royal KPN NV. In July 2013, Telefonica Deutschland said it agreed to acquire E-Plus from KPN in a deal valued at EUR8.55 billion. The deal will see KPN receiving EUR3.7 billion in cash and an initial stake of 24.9% in Telefonica Deutschland.
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Packaged food company General Mills Inc agreed Monday to acquire organic and natural food maker Annie's Inc for USD46.00 per share in and all-cash deal valued at about USD820 million. The deal will give General Mills a larger presence in the fast growing organic food products market.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Pets At Home Group
Liontrust Asset Management
Oxford Instruments
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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