LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London were higher Thursday morning, with miners recovering some of the ground lost in the past two sessions, while investors focus on manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index readings for the UK, the eurozone and Germany this morning.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.6%, or 43.39 points, at 6,824.90. The index was taking back its decline on Wednesday afternoon in response to a fall in oil prices.
Brent oil touched a low of USD46.74 a barrel on Wednesday after data from the US Energy Information Administration showed that crude stockpiles in the US rose in the week ended August 26. The report said US crude oil inventories increased by 2.27 million barrels last week, with economists expecting stockpiles of 921,000 from the 2.50 million barrels the previous week.
The North Sea benchmark is quoted at USD47.05 a barrel after the equities open Thursday, compared to USD47.20 a barrel at the European equities close on Wednesday.
Shares in miners were recovering some ground after two consecutive trading days of losses, with the FTSE 350 Mining sector up 1.3%, rebounding after a 3.2% loss on Wednesday. Glencore was the best blue-chip performer, up 2.5%, followed by Antofagasta, up 2.4%. Mid-cap Acacia Mining was the among the biggest gainers in the FTSE 250, up 1.7%, despite having gone ex-dividend.
The FTSE 250 was up 0.3% at 17,786.28 and the AIM All-Share was up 0.2% at 792.83.
FTSE 250-listed Safestore Holdings was up 1.6% after saying it expects its full-year adjusted earnings to be slightly ahead of current market expectations on the back of positive current trading. It posted revenue of GBP28.6 million for the three months ended July 31, up 7.1% from GBP26.7 million a year earlier, driving nine-month revenue of GBP82.7 million, compared to GBP77.1 million a year earlier.
The self-storage provider said the rise in the third quarter was thanks to a particularly strong performance in the UK, where like-for-like revenue grew 7.5%, whereas like-for-like revenue growth was 2.3% in Paris.
Paysafe Group shares were up 1.2%, after the online payments company acquired Canada-based Income Access Group for a cash consideration of CAD40 million. Paysafe said the purchase will help it expand the breadth of its offering. Income Access specialises in digital marketing services for the gambling and gaming market.
Paysafe said the acquisition will consist of an initial CAD28 million on completion, with the balance of CAD12 million being paid in three equal instalments over the following 18 months.
Inmarsat was up 1.0%. The satellite communications company has successfully placed USD650 million convertible bonds due 2023, which is USD50 million more than its planned bond placing due to "considerable demand". The net proceeds of the issue of the new bonds will be used primarily to fund the around USD390 million repurchase of Inmarsat's outstanding 1.75% USD287.7 million convertible bonds due 2017 and their related accrued interest.
Hays shares were down 3.5%. The recruiter reported growth in profit and net fees in its recently completed financial year, despite a Brexit-related slowdown in the UK jobs market, and promised to consider paying a special dividend as it returned to a cash-positive position.
The headhunter reported a pretax profit of GBP173.0 million for the full year ended June 30, up 11% year-on-year from GBP156.1 million. Operating profit was up to GBP181.0 million from GBP164.1 million, with 13% like-for-like growth. Hays declared a 2.90 pence full-year dividend, a 5% increase on the previous year's 2.76p.
Hays also increased its net fees to GBP810.3 million from GBP764.2 million the previous financial year, representing 7% like-for-like growth. The increase in fee income came despite the company reporting its UK and Ireland net fees were flat, with "more challenging" trading conditions late in the financial year. However 15% net fee growth in its Continental Europe & Rest of World business offset that UK slowdown.
Ascential was down 4.9% after Guardian Media Group, The Guardian and The Observer newspapers owner, and a group of entities indirectly owned by Apax Europe VII sold a total of 80 million shares in FTSE 250 company for a total of GBP200 million, according to a stock exchange filing Thursday.
The economic calendar this morning will grab market attention. Markit manufacturing PMIs from Germany, the eurozone and the UK are at 0855 BST, 0900 BST and 0930 BST, respectively. The afternoon will bring US initial and continuing jobless claims at 1330 BST, while Markit and ISM US manufacturing PMI readings are at 1445 BST and 1500 BST, respectively.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson said the UK manufacturing PMI could assuage some concerns about the health of the UK economy in the wake of the EU referendum, with an expected reading of 49.1, rebounding from July's disappointing score of 48.2 reading.
For the eurozone and Germany's manufacturing PMIs, Hewson said the readings to come "could well set the tone of how the European Central Bank reacts when it meets next week along with the publication of a new set of inflation and growth forecasts".
The CMC analyst expects Germany's PMI to remain flat from the July reading at 53.6, while the eurozone PMI is expected to come in unchanged at 51.8, according to FXStreet.com. The ECB's Governing Council is scheduled to meet next Thursday in Frankfurt.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite index ended down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong continued up 0.8%. The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed up 0.2%.
In Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris was up 0.6%, and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.3%.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
