BP Share News (BP.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are making broad-based gains at the open Friday, lifted partly by a surprise expansion to monetary stimulus in Japan, which lifted Asian stock markets.

Some positive corporate news also is supporting shares. British Airways owner IAG is up 2.8% after posting a rise in third quarter operating profit and revenue.

Miners Randgold Resources and Fresnillo lead blue-chip fallers, both down about 1.9%, as the price of gold continues to fall

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.8% at 6,517.51
FTSE 250: up 0.7% at 15,398.27
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.3% at 716.47
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Hang Seng: closed up 1.3% at 23,998.06
Nikkei 225: closed up 4.8% at 16,413.76
DJIA: closed up 1.3% at 17,195.42
S&P 500: closed up 0.6% at 1,994.65
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GBP-USD: flat at USD1.5993
EUR-USD: down at USD1.2573

GOLD: sharply down at USD1,177.30 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD85.55 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)

09:00 Italy Consumer Price Index
09:00 Italy Unemployment
10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
10:00 EU Unemployment Rate
11:00 Italy Producer Price Index
12:30 US Employment cost index
12:30 US Personal Income/Spending
14:45 US Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index
14:55 US Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index
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The Bank of Japan expanded its massive quantitative and qualitative easing unexpectedly as policymakers assessed it necessary to achieve the 2% inflation target even after a sales tax hike in April. In a 5-4 vote, the Policy Board led by Governor Haruhiko Kuroda decided to raise the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY80 trillion. The earlier plan was to increase it by about JPY60-70 trillion.
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Consumer prices in Japan added 3.2% on year in September, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said - below expectations for 3.3%, which would have been unchanged from the August reading. Core consumer prices gained 3.0% - matching forecasts and down from 3.1% in the previous month.
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The unemployment rate in Japan came in at 3.6% in September, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said - in line with expectations and up from 3.5% in August.
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Consumer confidence in the UK fell slightly in October, research firm GfK revealed with an index score of -2. That's down from -1 in September, and represents a three-month low. A negative score means that pessimists outnumber optimists. The index was dragged lower by weakness among the sub-indexes for 12-month economic outlook and major purchases.
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German retail sales declined at the fastest pace since May 2007 in September, data from Destatis showed. Retail sales were down 3.2% in September from August, while economists forecast a 0.9% drop. This was the biggest monthly fall since May 2007. The increase for August was revised down to 1.5%. On a yearly basis, retail sales gained 2.3% in September, faster than the 1.2% rise forecast by economists.
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Russia and Ukraine inked agreements late Thursday meant to ensure gas deliveries during the winter, ending months of EU-mediated negotiations between the adversaries. "I'm glad that political responsibility, the logic of cooperation and simple economic sense have prevailed," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said after the late-night signing in Brussels, which capped two days of marathon talks. The deal, which is valid through the end of March, foresees Ukraine paying Russia USD1.45 billion in gas arrears within "days" and a further USD1.65 billion by the end of the year, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said. Russia is then expected to implement a government decree lowering the price for Ukraine's gas deliveries by USD100.
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The US military has deployed about one-quarter of the 4,000 troops it said it would send to West Africa to fight the Ebola epidemic there, Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel said Thursday. About 1,100 US military personnel have been sent to the region thus far, Hagel said at a Pentagon briefing.
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The first group of Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga troops entered the besieged Syrian border town of Kobane on Thursday for a short reconnaissance visit before returning to Turkish territory, a local official told dpa. "The group, which included commanders, entered this morning, held talks with the leaders of the People's Protection Units, studied the geography of the area of Kobane and then left to prepare the movement of their troops," said Ismet Hassan, the Syrian Kurdish defence chief in Kobane.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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S&P CAPITAL IQ CUTS BT GROUP TO 'SELL' ('HOLD') - PRICE TARGET 340 (410) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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International Consolidated Airlines Group posted a rise in third quarter operating profit and revenue on a constant currency basis, with both British Airways and Iberia both performing well in the quarter. Operating profit for the group in the third quarter to September 30 was EUR900 million, up on the EUR690 million a year earlier. British Airways made an operating profit of EUR607 million, up from EUR477 million a year earlier. Iberia's operating profit rose to EUR162 million from EUR74 million. On a constant currency basis, revenue for the group rose 6.9%, but it was up 8.5% on a reported basis to EUR5.9 billion. Passenger unit revenue for the group was down 0.9% on a constant currency basis, with fuel units costs falling 7.5%.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group reported a swing to third-quarter pretax profit, but results included hundreds of millions of pounds of litigation and conduct costs, relating to matters such as regulators' probe into the foreign exchange markets and a further charge taken for the payment protection insurance scandal. RBS said it made a GBP1.27 billion pretax profit in the quarter ended September 30, compared with a GBP634 million pretax loss in the corresponding quarter last year. The quarterly performance was supported by net impairment provision releases of GBP801 million, primarily in Ulster Bank and RBS Capital Resolution.
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Direct Line Insurance Group said it is on track to meet its financial targets for the year, despite reporting a fall in third-quarter gross written premium. In a statement, Direct Line said gross written premium from ongoing operations fell to GBP928.0 million in the quarter ended September 30, compared with GBP977.7 million in the corresponding period last year, citing falls across its business lines of motor, home, rescue and other personal lines, and commercial. The group said insurance market trends in the third quarter were similar to those seen in the second quarter, namely that the motor market experienced a second successive quarter of pricing stability whereas the home market saw further premium deflation.
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Intu Properties said it has secured a new corporate GBP600 million revolving credit facility which replaces its existing deal. FTSE 100 property company Intu said the new deal replaces it existing GBP375 million facility, due to expire in November 2018.
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Rolls-Royce Holdings said it has won a contract with BG Group PLC to supply its Trent 60 DLE industrial gas turbine for the proposed Lake Charles liquefied natural gas export project the oil company is carrying out in Louisiana in the US. The two FTSE 100 companies have also agreed the terms of a long term service agreement covering the support and maintenance of equipment for up to 25 years.
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WPP provided yet more evidence of the impact of a strong pound on earnings for multinationals, reporting a rise in revenue in the third quarter held back by the impact of currency translation. Reported third quarter revenue for the FTSE 100 advertising group in the quarter to the end of September was up 3.1% to GBP2.76 billion, with revenue in dollar terms rising 10.8% to USD4.6 billion and gaining 10.9% euro terms to EUR3.5 billion. The impact of the strength of sterling was illustrated by the rise in its constant currency revenue of 10.6%, with like-for-like revenue rising 7.6%.
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BP has stepped up its call for the man heading the Gulf of Mexico compensation fund to be sacked after the company uncovered a trove of new evidence allegedly casting doubts on his impartiality, The Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday. The FTSE 100 oil company has already asked a US court to remove Patrick Juneau from his role overseeing payouts to victims of the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, after he was alleged to have misled the court about a potential conflict of interest, the paper said. But BP has now widened its claim against Juneau, following a slew of new emails and billing records which have emerged which suggest Juneau was acting against BP in connection with cases for private clients.
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Rio Tinto is set to take a USD2.5 billion writedown on its Oyu Tolgoi mining project in Mongolia, The Times reported. Construction of the USD5 billion project has fallen into trouble due to a tax dispute with the local government, the newspaper added. Rio Tinto flagged in its half-year results in August that it could have to write down the value of the project should the delays persist, but Turquoise Hill, the Rio Tinto-controlled company that owns the majority of the project, has said the delays have contributed to a USD2.5 billion reduction in the value of the scheme.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Ted Baker said its ongoing claim against AXA Insurance UK PLC, its previous insurance company, for loss of profit arising from the theft of inventory from its warehouse between 2004 and 2008 has not been upheld by the High Court. Ted Baker said it was "disappointed" with the outcome of the case and was considering its options. It said the judgement will not have any significant impact on the financial position of the group, nor on its trading.
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Great Portland Estates said it has signed a GBP450 million unsecured revolving credit facility with seven relationship banks. The five-year deal, which can be extended to seven years, has a headline margin of 105 basis points over Libor, the FTSE 250 property group said.
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SuperGroup downgraded its full-year profit guidance after the group echoed the concerns aired by other retailers, such as Next PLC, that the continued warm weather in both September and October in the UK and Europe draws a veil of uncertainty over its autumn/winter ranges. The FTSE 250 retailer said it would downgrade its full-year profit guidance to between GBP60 million and GBP65 million, down from the previous guidance of GBP67.1 million to GBP70.3 million.
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Elementis Expects FY In Line With Expectations
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Berendsen Says Trading In 3 Mos To Sept 30 In Line With Expectations; Quarterly Underlying Revenue In Quarter Up 3% At Constant Currency On Year Before; Reported Revenue At Actual Currencies Down 3% On Year Before; Says Had Further Progress In Operating Margin In Quarter
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Citigroup on Thursday cut its third quarter earnings by USD600 million, due to an increase in legal accruals resulting from rapidly evolving regulatory inquiries and investigations. The company lowered its third quarter 2014 net income to USD2.84 billion from the USD3.44 billion previously reported on October 14. Operating expenses rose to USD12.96 billion from the previously reported USD12.36 billion. The bank's capital ratios also fell.
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Consumer electronics maker Sony said second-quarter net loss attributable to the company's stock holders widened to JPY135.97 billion from last year's JPY19.63 billion. Sales and operating revenue grew to JPY1.902 trillion from JPY1.774 trillion in the prior year.
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Belgian brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, known as AB InBev reported that its third-quarter 2014 profit attributable to equity holders increased to USD2.5 billion from USD2.37 billion last year, reflecting a non-recurring gain of USD81 million due mainly to incremental proceeds from disposals in prior years. Revenue for the recent quarter rose to USD12.24 billion from USD11.73 billion in the year-ago period.
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French lender BNP Paribas reported its third-quarter net income attributable to equity holders was EUR1.502 billion, 10.6% higher than last year's EUR1.358 billion. The latest results included one-off items totalling EUR197 million corresponding to own credit adjustment and own credit risk included in derivatives, compared to last year's EUR138 million. Revenue increased 3.9% to EUR9.537 billion from EUR9.179 billion a year ago.
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Coffee retailer Starbucks reported a swing to profit in the fourth quarter from a loss last year, driven by a 10% growth in revenues, while the prior year results were hurt by litigation charges. Despite growth across key regions, revenues for the quarter fell short of Wall Street estimates. Starbucks detailed some weak earnings outlook for the first quarter, while tightening its earnings guidance and lifting sales projection for the full year 2015.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

CEB Resources
Cientifica
Ideagen
Jupiter Second Split Trust
Gresham House
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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