LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Stocks Edge Up Ahead Of ECB Meeting, Fed Minutes

LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks moved gingerly higher on Wednesday as investors await the outcome of an emergency Brexit summit in Brussels, the European Central Bank's latest policy decision and minutes from the US Federal Reserve.The FTSE 100 was up 5.78 points, or 0.1%, at 7,431.35 Wednesday midday. The FTSE 250 was up 25.06 points, or 0.1%, at 19,458.82, while the AIM All-Share was up 0.7% at 932.49.The Cboe UK 100 index was flat at 12,609.31. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 17,373.77, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 11,241.88.In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were both up 0.4% at midday.In New York, stocks are pointed to a higher start with the Dow Jones seen up 0.2%, as is the S&P 500, while the Nasdaq is seen gaining 0.1%. "Today is the day we've all been waiting for, the reason why markets have been so subdued at the start of the week. An emergency EU Brexit summit, ECB meeting and Fed minutes will ensure this is anything but a boring day in the markets," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda. The ECB announces its latest monetary policy decision at 1245 BST, followed by a press conference with President Mario Draghi at 1330 BST. Then, at 1900 BST, minutes from the US Federal Reserve's last meeting are leased. "The ECB meeting today will be an interesting affair, even if the main decisions on interest rates and TLTROs were made last month. There's been a lot of chatter recently about what can be done to offset the side-effects of the now long-term negative deposit rate for banks and whether the ECB will act to shield them," said Erlam. Meanwhile, the Oanda analyst said the Fed minutes may not offer too much new information but investors will be keeping an eye on the prospects of a rate cut. Erlam said: "We've clearly seen a very dovish pivot from the Fed in recent months but I don't think they'll be ready just yet to go full u-turn. It would not reflect well on their decision in December."In Brussels, UK Prime Minister Theresa May will meet the leaders of the remaining EU 27 later on Wednesday to press her case for a further extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process to June 30 to allow her more time to get a deal through Parliament.But amid increasing frustration among EU leaders, European Council president Donald Tusk is recommending a longer delay of up to a year, with an opportunity to leave before then if a deal is agreed.The unanimous agreement of all 27 remaining EU states is needed to avoid a no-deal Brexit on the scheduled date of Friday, April 12.The pound was quoted at USD1.3074 at midday, up from USD1.3049 late Tuesday.In London, Tesco was helping the FTSE 100 trade in the green as shares in the supermarket rose 2.6% on a robust set of annual results and a boosted dividend. For the year ended February 23, Tesco posted pretax profit of GBP1.67 billion, up 28% from GBP1.30 billion the year before. Meanwhile, revenue rose 11% year-on-year to GBP63.91 billion from GBP57.49 billion, slightly lagging market expectations. Furthermore, the UK's biggest supermarket chain by market share rewarded shareholders by almost doubling its annual payout. Tesco proposed a final dividend of 4.10 pence per share, taking the total for the year to 5.77p compared with 3.0p a year ago.Like-for-like sales in the UK & Ireland, Tesco's core market, were up 2.9% in the year, driven by an excellent performance from wholesaler Booker, up 11%. "[CEO] Dave Lewis deserves a round of applause for what he's achieved at Tesco. He took over a business that was reeling from the inroads made by Aldi and Lidl into the UK supermarket sector, and one of the first things on his plate was dealing with an accounting blunder," said Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "Five years down the road and the supermarket's rebuilt profits and dividends, and gathered consistent sales momentum in its core UK business," said Khalaf. "Margins are much healthier and look set to meet Lewis margin target of around 4% in the coming financial year."Dragging at the other end of the blue-chip index was Reckitt Benckiser, down 6.3%. This was after Indivior - which was spun-off from Reckitt in 2014 - said that a grand jury in the Western District of Virginia has issued an indictment of 28 felony counts against the company related to fraud.Shares in FTSE 250 constituent Indivior were a sharp 79% lower at midday. The felonies, issued in connection with a federal criminal investigation initiated by the US Department of Justice in 2013, include one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and health care fraud; one count of health care fraud; four counts of mail fraud; and 22 counts of wire fraud.Indivior said it believes the claims are "unsupported by the facts and the law", and it will contest the allegations.The allegations are based on actions that occurred "almost exclusively" prior to Indivior becoming an independent company following its demerger from Reckitt.Reckitt, in its own statement, clarified that the indictment by the US Justice Department in relation to Indivior was not against Reckitt or any of its group companies.Defence firm QinetiQ was another faller in the FTSE 250, down 2.9% after Investec cut its rating on the stock to Hold from Buy. Stagecoach fell 2.0% as it lashed out at the UK government after being disqualified from applying from all three current UK rail franchise competitions. The three franchises are East Midlands, South Eastern, and West Coast Partnership. It had applied for East Midlands independently, South Eastern alongside planned partner Alstom, and West Coast alongside Virgin Group and French firm SNCF. The reason, FTSE 250-listed Stagecoach said, is because it submitted non-compliant bids related to pension risks.Chief Executive Martin Griffiths said: "We are extremely concerned at both the DfT's decision and its timing. The Department has had full knowledge of these bids for a lengthy period and we are seeking an urgent meeting to discuss our significant concerns."Recruitment firm PageGroup was up 3.6% after reporting growth across all its regions in the first quarter of the year, with gross profit up 12%.PageGroup reported gross profit of GBP208.8 million for the three months to March-end, up from GBP187.8 million in the comparative period a year ago.The company achieved growth in all regions with Americas up 21%, Asia Pacific 15%, Europe Middle East and Africa up 11% and UK 1.7%.Dunelm rose 2.5% after the home furnishings retailer said it expects to beat market expectations for its current financial year. After strong first quarter revenue growth, and despite political and economic troubles in the UK, Dunelm expects to beat consensus for pretax profit for its year ending June of between GBP115.6 million and GBP118.5 million.In its previous financial year, Dunelm reported pretax profit of GBP93.1 million, up 0.8% year-on-year, meaning it and the market both expect a strong acceleration in growth.For the third quarter, ended March, Dunelm's total revenue rose 6.1% to GBP284.5 million, with like-for-like sales rising 13%. On London's junior AIM market, ASOS was up 9.0% despite interim profit diving, as it retained its annual forecasts. For the six months to February 28, the online fashion retailer posted pretax profit of GBP4.0 million, 87% lower than the comparative period a year ago at GBP29.9 million.This was due to GBP24 million of temporary transition costs, the retailer explained. Furthermore, distribution expenses increased to GBP639.9 million from GBP569.4 million, while administrative costs jumped to GBP430.5 million from GBP361.2 million. Looking ahead at the rest of the financial year, ASOS left its guidance unchanged as it remains "confident of a stronger performance in the second half".