(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are called to open higher on Monday, at the start of a politically fuelled week.
Investors have political developments to consider on Monday, in both the UK and France.
French voters propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong lead in first-round legislative elections on Sunday and plunged the country into political uncertainty, according to polling projections.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who called the surprise elections just three weeks ago, urged voters to rally against the far right in the second round of balloting.
The UK also has its own election to contend with, with people heading to polling stations on Thursday.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called up 0.5% at 8,204.60
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Hang Seng: up marginally at 17,718.61
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.1% at 39,631.06
S&P/ASX 200: closed down 0.2% at 7,750.70
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DJIA: closed down 45.20 points, 0.1%, at 39,118.86
S&P 500: closed down 0.4% at 5,460.48
Nasdaq Composite: closed down 0.7% at 17,732.6
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EUR: up at USD1.0761 (USD1.0713)
GBP: up at USD1.2665 (USD1.2639)
USD: up at JPY161.03 (JPY160.88)
GOLD: down at USD2,319.90 per ounce (USD2,326.14)
OIL (Brent): up at USD85.43 a barrel (USD84.84)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS
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Monday's key economic events still to come:
10:00 CEST eurozone manufacturing PMI
09:55 CEST Germany manufacturing PMI
14:00 CEST Germany CPI
09:30 BST UK manufacturing PMI
09:30 BST UK money supply
09:45 EDT US manufacturing PMI
10:00 EDT US ISM manufacturing PMI
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Ireland's manufacturing sector declined at a worse pace in June, data from S&P Global showed Monday. The seasonally adjusted AIB Ireland manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 47.4 points in June, down from 49.8 points in May. Any figure greater than 50.0 indicates overall improvement of the sector, with June's figures indicating that the slowdown in activity accelerated. This means that the health of the Irish manufacturing sector worsened for the fourth straight month and at an accelerated pace. The downturn was the most marked since July last year. S&P noted contractions in new orders and output as a main cause to the deterioration, alongside a continued decline backlogs of work. More positively, S&P said the year outlook for production improved in June. Expectations across manufacturing companies based in Ireland were the strongest recorded since the start of the year, it added.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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Berenberg raises Centrica to 'buy' (hold) - price target 155 (130) pence
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HSBC raises Land Securities to 'buy' - price target 747 pence
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UBS raises Rentokil Initial to 'neutral' (sell) - price target 480 (395) pence
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Anglo American has suspended production at its Grosvenor steelmaking coal mine in Queensland, Australia, following an underground coal gas ignition incident on Saturday. All emergency protocols were followed and the workforce was safely evacuated from the mine without injury, it said. The company added: "The mine team is working with specialist teams from the Queensland Mines Rescue Service and the regulatory authorities to extinguish the underground fire, prior to being able to assess the steps towards a safe re-entry into the mine. These procedures are expected to take several months as a result of the likely damage underground."
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Croda International named Stephen Oxley as its new chief financial officer. Oxley is currently CFO of Johnson Matthey, the specialty chemicals and sustainable technologies company. He will join join Croda no later than April 1, 2025. Chair Danuta Gray said: "Alongside his strong track record as a PLC chief financial officer incorporating strategic thinking and operational delivery, he brings valuable experience of audit and advisory roles for large, complex international companies across a number of relevant sectors during his time as a partner at KPMG. I look forward to welcoming him to the board." Johnson Matthey has commenced a process to replace Oxley.
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AstraZeneca said Imfinzi and Lynparza have been recommended for approval in the EU as treatment for certain patients with primary advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of Oncology R&D, said: "Today's recommendation for approval in the EU recognises the potential of the Lynparza and Imfinzi combination to provide clinical benefit for patients with endometrial cancer, especially for those with mismatch repair proficient disease who have few available treatments today." Separately, AstraZeneca said its marketing authorisation application for Sipavibart has been accepted under an accelerated assessment procedure by the European Medicines Agency, for the pre-exposure prophylaxis of Covid-19 in immunocompromised patients. It explained that Sipavibart is an investigational long-acting antibody designed to provide Covid-19 protection for immunocompromised patients who often do not respond adequately to vaccination alone and remain at high risk of serious outcomes from Covid-19.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Apax Global Alpha said Apax X Fund has agreed to sell its minority stake in idealista, an online real estate classifieds platform in Southern Europe, to Cinven. "Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Madrid, idealista provides an online real estate classifieds marketplace for homebuyers and sellers. Its online platform and diversified portfolio of digital services, including CRM tools, data analytics, and online mortgage brokerage, help enable efficient real estate transactions," Apax said. Apax X invested in idealista for a minority stake in February 2021. The transaction values AGA's look-through investment in idealista at approximately EUR14.8 million. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
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OTHER COMPANIES
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Helium One Global updated on its progress at its Rukwa project area in Tanzania ahead of its extended well test at Itumbula West-1. It said that it is on track to deepen ITW-1 well and commence EWT in fault-fracture helium play in July. "This is a very exciting time for the company as the test will enable us to determine commercial flow rates, reservoir performance and helium concentrations over a longer period of time. The results of this EWT will enable us to better determine resource estimates and fully evaluate the potential of this new fault-fracture helium play we have at Itumbula," said Chief Executive Lorna Blaisse.
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By Sophie Rose, Alliance News senior reporter
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
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Centrica (CNA)
Land Securities (LAND)
Rentokil Initial (RTO)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
Johnson Matthey (JMAT)