Ocado Share News (OCDO)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares opened higher Friday on a sombre day in London after the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox. Both sides of the Brexit campaign suspended their activities and a series of events planned for Friday have been cancelled.

The pound was rebounding early Friday, while gold was giving back its post-Fed-meeting rally.

Banks were leading FTSE 100 gainers, with Lloyds, RBS and Barclays up by between 2.6% and 3.4%.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.7% at 5,989.69
FTSE 250: up 0.6% at 16,122.91
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 710.36
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Hang Seng: up 0.4% at 20,108.55
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.1% at 15,599.66
DJIA: closed up 0.5% at 17,733.10
S&P 500: closed up 0.3% at 2,077.99
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GBP: up at USD1.4225 (USD1.4082)
EUR: up at USD1.1235 (USD1.1114)

GOLD: down at USD1,280.33 per ounce (USD1,309.49)
OIL (Brent): firm at USD47.81 a barrel (USD47.48)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

EU EcoFin Meeting

09:00 Italy trade balance
09:00 EU current account
10:00 EU labour costs
13:30 US building permits and housing starts
13:30 Canada consumer price index
15:00 US Reuters/Michigan consumer sentiment index
16:00 EU ECB President Draghi speech
18:00 US Baker Hughes US oil rig count
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Campaigning ahead of the European Union referendum will remain on pause as politicians on both sides of the divide struggle to come to terms with the murder of Jo Cox. Both of the main campaigns suspended their activities as news of the Labour MP's death broke on Thursday and a series of engagements planned for Friday have been cancelled. With days to go until the June 23 referendum, Leave campaign standard bearer Boris Johnson has insisted the Brexit backers are the underdog in the contest despite opinion polls swinging in their favour.
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A Brexit vote is likely to send the pound plummeting as pre-poll jitters are already hitting the housing market, the Bank of England has warned. The intervention came as Governor Mark Carney insisted he has every right to comment on the economic impact of withdrawal after being accused of breaking impartiality rules by a leading Leave campaigner. The Bank insisted it is "increasingly probable" a Leave vote in next week's referendum would sharply damage the value of sterling across international money markets.
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British households perceived that the value of their home increased in June, though at a slower rate than in the previous month, survey figures from Markit Economics and Knight Frank showed.
The Knight Frank/Markit House Price Sentiment Index, or HPSI, dropped to 59.7 in June from 61.0 in the previous month. However, a reading above 50 signals a rise in house prices.
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Eurozone finance ministers have paved the way for a new bailout payment to Greece of EUR7.5 billion, the head of their Eurogroup panel, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said. Athens and its creditors spent months negotiating reforms and cost-cutting measures that would allow money to continue flowing from Greece's third, EUR86 billion bailout, which was agreed to last year. Only EUR2 billion euros have been paid out so far. The new disbursement will provide "oxygen" for the Greek economy, EU Economy Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said. "We are on the right track," he added.
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A group of EU member states agreed to take a final stab at hashing out a controversial tax on financial transactions, after failing to meet a self-imposed June deadline to resolve their differences. Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain have been negotiating the tax for nearly three years. They had at one point planned to start implementing the levy this year. "There must be a final decision in September," said Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling, who has been leading the negotiations. "If we don't have a solution in September, then we probably won't get one," he added.
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The International Monetary Fund warned the eurozone faces a "weak" medium-term economic outlook and remains "increasingly vulnerable" to risks amid rising political divisions and euroscepticism. The bloc's recovery has strengthened in the last two quarters amid domestic demand and lower oil prices, but inflation remains lows, the IMF said. "This strong cyclical recovery should not lead to complacency," it said, noting the area remains vulnerable to the risks of stagnation. It pointed to rising political risks, including the refugee crisis and the pending vote on whether Britain will leave the European Union.
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US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said he will not end his campaign despite having virtually no chance of overtaking rival Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party's nomination. "The revolution must go on," Sanders said in a live-streamed video address. He said his campaign and Clinton's campaign would continue discussions "to make sure your voices are heard" and that the Democratic Party approves the most progressive agenda in its history at its convention next month. Sanders also vowed to do everything in his power to defeat Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
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The largest US labour group endorsed Hillary Clinton for president as focus shifts toward the November presidential election pitting the former secretary of state against Trump. The AFL-CIO and other unions have historically endorsed Democratic candidates for president and the move signifies the party is unifying around Clinton after she secured the party's nomination following a long primary contest with Senator Bernie Sanders.
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US President Barack Obama said terrorist attacks like this week's massacre in Orlando, Florida, will continue if the US does not make it more difficult for would-be attackers to get guns. Obama spent several hours meeting with victims' families and first responders in Orlando before placing a bouquet of white flowers at a memorial to the 49 victims of Sunday's shooting at a gay nightclub.
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Ukraine slammed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon after a statement prepared to be delivered by Ban referred to Russia as having a "critical role" in resolving the crisis in Ukraine and protecting human rights. Volodomyr Yelchenko, Ukrainian ambassador to the UN, told reporters in New York that he was "outraged" by the text sent out by the UN chief's office early Thursday morning because it seemed to suggest that Russia could play a positive role in the conflict.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: RBC RAISES IMPERIAL BRANDS TO 'SECTOR PERFORM' ('UNDERPERFORM')
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Liberum Lifts Wolseley To Buy From Hold, Keeps Price Target At 4,100p
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SOCGEN INITIATES OCADO WITH 'SELL' - TARGET 193 PENCE
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DEUTSCHE BANK CUTS POUNDLAND GROUP TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 205 (180) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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The UK Energy & Climate Change Committee published a report that recommended a "major change" in the way the UK energy system is operated by breaking up National Grid, claiming the company has "conflicts of interest". The parliamentary committee, which is made up of cross-party members to examine the activities and policy of the Department for Energy & Climate Change, has called for a move toward local energy compared to one national network that distributes energy around the country.
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Tesco said it is selling its Dobbies Garden Centres business to an investor group for GBP217 million in cash. The investor group purchasing Dobbies is led by Midlothian Capital Partners and Hattington Capital. Tesco bought Dobbies in 2007. It operates across 35 garden centres in the UK. The latest sale comes after Tesco offloaded its Giraffe restaurant chain and Turkish supermarket chain Kipa last week amid a disposal programme of non-core assets.
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HSBC Finance, a unit of HSBC Holdings, said it has agreed to pay USD1.58 billion to settle a 14-year shareholder class action based on events that took place prior to HSBC's acquisition of Household International Inc in 2003. The settlement is subject to court approval. The settlement is expected to result in a pretax charge to HSBC Finance of about USD585 million, including legal fees and expenses, in the second quarter of 2016. The bank said it could have faced liability up to USD3.6 billion.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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JD Sports Fashion said sales have been boosted by the Euro 2016 football tournament, which began last week, leaving it well-positioned to deliver an "excellent" first-half result to end July. The sporting goods retailer said it has seen a further boost to sales in recent weeks thanks to the football cup, and although it faces a strong comparative for the remainder of the year, its strong start will help facilitate delivery of current market expectations.
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John Wood Group said it has stepped in to buy a fabrication and manufacturing business in Aberdeen, Scotland from a company that recently went into administration, in a move which will expand Wood Group's capabilities within the UK oil and gas sector. The oilfield services and engineering firm said Enterprise Engineering Service appointed administrators late last month, and John Wood has now acquired the assets of the business to boost its asset integrity management capabilities, adding fabrication to its services, which focus on driving efficiencies and extending the life of upstream and midstream assets. No financial details were provided about the purchase.
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Events company UBM said it has completed the sale of its PR Newswire business to Cision, a PR software company owned by Chicago-based private equity house GTCR Canyon Holdings. UBM had announced the sale of the business in late 2015 and said the total cash proceeds from the sale will be GBP490.0 million. As it previously announced, UBM will return GBP245.0 million of the proceeds to shareholders via a special dividend, payable on July 8.
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Cobham said it has received valid acceptances for just over 97% of its fully-underwritten rights issue, announced earlier in June. The company, which serves the aviation, maritime, defence and space sectors, first said it would raise funds in April in a bid to shore up its finances after it issued a profit warning for the full year. It then detailed those plans in June, saying it would raise GBP506.7 million through a fully-underwritten, one-for-two rights issue. It has issued 569.3 million shares at 89.00 pence per share in the rights issue, a 45% discount to its closing price the day prior to the issue being detailed. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Jefferies International, the underwriters, will now seek to procure subscribers for the remaining shares by Monday.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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LendInvest has made a key hire which is likely to bring it closer to become the first peer-to-peer lender to float in the UK, The Daily Telegraph reported. Stephan Wilke has joined LendInvest as an adviser to its board. Wilke was the executive chairman of OneSavings Bank prior to the group floating in London in 2014 and is the former boss of the Treasury's Asset Protection Agency. Wilke said he anticipates he will help the company with its initial public offering, according to the newspaper, though this remains a long-term ambition rather than an imminent move.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Business software giant Oracle reported an increase in profit for the fourth quarter, despite lower revenues. Nevertheless, earnings for the quarter fell short of Wall Street estimates by a penny, while revenue trumped expectations. Redwood Shores, California-based Oracle's fourth-quarter profit rose to USD2.81 billion or USD0.66 per share from USD2.76 billion or USD0.62 per share a year before. Revenue for the quarter dropped 1% to USD10.59 billion from USD10.71 billion a year previously.
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Monsanto and Remington Holding, the parent company of a provider of customised seed production, processing, logistics and related services to the global seed industry, announced that they are forming a new joint venture with an initial strategic focus on sorghum.
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The US Securities & Exchange Commission brought sanctions against a former Goldman Sachs Group employee who obtained Federal Reserve secrets, seven months after the central bank permanently barred him from the banking industry. The regulator said Rohit Bansal "is barred from association with any broker, dealer, investment adviser, municipal securities dealer, municipal advisor, transfer agent, or nationally recognized statistical rating organization."
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The US SEC also announced insider trading charges against a former software company executive and three close friends who made more than a half-million dollars based on his illegal tip about an upcoming merger. The SEC alleged that Christopher Salis, then a global vice president at SAP America, received thousands of dollars in kickbacks for tipping Douglas Miller in advance of SAP's impending acquisition of Concur Technologies.
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Viacom's lead independent director, Frederic Salerno, filed a lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court with the support of the independent directors, seeking an expedited determination that Shari Redstone's attempted removal and replacement of Viacom directors is invalid and that the directors elected at the 2016 annual meeting continue to serve.
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Friday's Shareholder Meetings

JD Sports Fashion
Rexam (re recommended offer for Rexam by Ball Corp)
Charlemagne Capital
JZ Capital Partners
Hunters Property
Zinxox Resources
Silence Therapeutics
British & American Investment Trust
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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