Politics And PMIs Provide Market Focus

LONDON (Alliance News) - A string of purchasing managers' index readings for the UK, Europe and the US were set to be the London market focus Monday.

Politics continued to loom large as well, following scenes of violence in Spain during the Catalan independence referendum held on Sunday, and as the ruling UK Tory party conference continues in Manchester.

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 12.24 points, or 0.2%, at 7,385.00
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Hang Seng: Hong Kong markets closed for holiday
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.2% at 20,400.78
DJIA: closed up 0.1% at 22,405.09
S&P 500: closed up 0.4% at 2,519.36
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GBP: down at USD1.3354 (USD1.3384)
EUR: down at USD1.1762 (USD1.1810)

GOLD: down at USD1,273.31 per ounce (USD1,283.96)
OIL (Brent): soft at USD56.54 a barrel (USD56.85)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come

holiday China National Day financial markets closed

0930 BST UK CIPS/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index

11:00 CET EU unemployment
10:00 CET EU eurozone Manufacturing PMI
09:50 CET France Manufacturing PMI
09:55 CET Germany Manufacturing PMI
10:00 CET Italy unemployment
09:45 CET Italy Manufacturing PMI
09:15 CET Spain Manufacturing PMI
09:30 CET Switzerland Purchasing Managers' Index
09:15 CET Switzerland retail sales

09:45 EDT US Manufacturing PMI
10:00 EDT US Construction Spending
10:00 EDT US ISM Manufacturing Report on Business
11:00 EDT US Global Manufacturing PMI
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The UK's biggest peacetime repatriation operation is under way to return 110,000 Monarch Airlines customers after the airline collapsed into administration. The UK Civil Aviation Authority said it has been asked by the government to charter more than 30 aircraft to bring the passengers back to the UK after the airline failed to renew a crucial licence. Some 300,000 future bookings have been cancelled as a result of the company's failure, the largest to hit a UK airline, and customers have been told to keep away from airports as there will be no more flights. CAA chief executive Andrew Haines said: "We know that Monarch's decision to stop trading will be very distressing for all of its customers and employees. This is the biggest UK airline ever to cease trading, so the government has asked the CAA to support Monarch customers currently abroad to get back to the UK at the end of their holiday at no extra cost to them."
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Chancellor Philip Hammond has reaffirmed the UK government's commitment to the Northern Powerhouse, announcing GBP400 million of investment in transport links across the North of England and Midlands. Some GBP300 million will be used to ensure cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, York and Leicester can be linked up with the HS2 high-speed rail route between London and the North. And a further GBP100 million will go into local road schemes to cut congestion and unlock new sites for homes and businesses in the North. Details of the schemes will be unveiled in Hammond's speech to the Conservative annual conference in Manchester on Monday.
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UK Prime Minister Theresa May launched a bid to target young voters with a tuition fee freeze and a GBP10 billion boost for first time buyers as she tried to stop Tory tensions over Brexit dominating the Tory party conference in Manchester. The move came amid renewed Brexit back-biting after another incendiary intervention by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson who laid down a raft of red lines for EU withdrawal including an insistence that a transition phase must not last "a second more" than two years. May announced that tuition fees will be frozen at the current GBP9,250 level until 2019, rather than increase with inflation by GBP250. Also, in a bid to help young people get on the housing ladder, Chancellor Hammond is announcing a GBP10 billion expansion of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme in order to aid 135,000 new purchasers.
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UK private sector growth slowed in three months to September, according to growth indicator released by the Confederation of British Industry. The balance of firms reporting an increase in output fell to +11% from +14% in three months to August. Private sector firms expect growth to pick up over the next three months, with balance rising to +18%. "Growth in the economy has held steady through the summer, although at a slightly slower pace than expected by many firms," Rain Newton-Smith, CBI chief economist, said.
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Ireland's manufacturing activity continued to expand strongly in September, though the rate of expansion eased since August, survey figures from IHS Markit showed. The seasonally adjusted Investec Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 55.4 in September from 56.1 in August. However, any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. New orders grew at the sharpest pace in twenty-six months in September, which was the key driver of the latest manufacturing expansion.
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Catalans have "gained the right" to secede from Spain after Madrid responded on Sunday to an unauthorized independence referendum, in which the "yes" vote took 90%, with "shameful" police brutality, their president Carles Puigdemont said. "We have gained the right to have an independent state with the status of a republic," Puigdemont said, flanked by his ministers. More than 2.2 million ballot papers were counted, out of 5.3 million eligible voters, the regional government later said, suggesting a turnout of less than 50%. About 90% were in favour of independence, with about 8% for the "no" camp and blank and void papers accounting for the rest.
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A man who killed two women with a knife at Marseille's Saint Charles railway station on Sunday was shot dead by soldiers, as the Islamic State terrorist group appeared to claim responsibility for the attack. The person who carried out the attack was among Islamic State's "soldiers," the SITE Intelligence Group said, citing the terrorist group's semi-official Amaq news agency. French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who visited the crime scene in the southern port city, had said earlier: "This act could be of a terrorist nature, but we cannot confirm it at the moment." He said that eyewitnesses heard the attacker shouting out "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great."
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China's central bank announced a targeted reserve requirement ratio cut to free up funds for small and medium sized firms. The People's Bank of China on Saturday reduced the amount of cash that banks should hold as reserves, from next year. The action applies to 90% of city commercial banks and 95% of rural commercial lenders. The RRR cut range between 0.5 percentage point and 1.5 percentage point depending on the volume of business banks do with smaller firms and agricultural borrowers. The central bank said the reduction is a "structural adjustment" and it is not a shift in monetary policy. Policymakers reiterated that they plan to keep monetary policy "prudent and neutral".
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Chinese factory activity in September expanded at the fastest pace in more than five years, according to the country's official purchasing managers' index, released on Saturday. The PMI stood at 52.4 this month, up from 51.7 in August and reaching the highest level since May 2012, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The result, however, contrasted with a private index that signalled slower growth. The Caixin China General Manufacturing PMI was 51 in September, down from a six-month high of 51.6 in August, according to a survey conducted by financial information firm Markit and sponsored by Caixin Media.
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The manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in September, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed, with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.9. That's up from 52.2 in August. Meanwhile, an index monitoring business sentiment in Japan surged in the third quarter of 2017, the Bank of Japan said in its quarterly Tankan business survey. The large manufacturers' index came in with a score of +22, beating expectations for +18 and up from +17 in the previous quarter. The outlook came in at +19, also topping expectations for +16 and up from +15 in the three months prior. The survey is closely watched by the BOJ for formulating policy.
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US President Donald Trump has told his top diplomat to stop wasting time with North Korea, a day after Rex Tillerson indicated that Washington had direct contact with Pyongyang. "I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," Trump tweeted on Sunday, using a nickname he coined for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "... Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" Trump wrote. The US acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that it is in direct communication with North Korea over its nuclear and missile tests.
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Trump will make his first trip to Asia since winning the White House in November, the White House announced on Friday. The White House said trip from November 3rd through 14th will include stops in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines as well as Hawaii. During the trip, Trump will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
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Trump says he will pick a nominee within two to three weeks to lead the rate-setting Federal Reserve next year. Chairwoman Janet Yellen's four-year term at the helm of the US central bank expires on February 3. Trump told reporters on Friday at the White House that he has held "four meetings" in the process of interviewing candidates. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said this month that Yellen was one of "a lot of good people" under consideration.
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US Health & Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned Friday amid a furore over his use of private charter flights for government business. Price offered his resignation to Trump, who accepted it, the White House said. Trump expressed disappointment over the message Price's travel sent about government waste even as he seeks to trim spending.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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DAVY RAISES KINGFISHER TO 'OUTPERFORM' ('NEUTRAL')
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JPMORGAN RAISES QINETIQ TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 290 PENCE
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BERENBERG CUTS AGGREKO TO 'SELL' ('HOLD') - TARGET 770 (800) PENCE
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BERENBERG RAISES HOTEL CHOCOLAT TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 380 (330) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Vodafone said its Portuguese operation has signed an agreement to deploy a fibre-to-the-home network. Vodafone said Vodafone Portugal and NOS, a Portuguese communications firm, have signed an agreement to deploy and share a fibre-to-the-home network which will be marketable to around 2.6 million homes and businesses in Portugal. The two companies will provide reciprocal access to each other's networks on commercially agreed terms. Vodafone Portugal will gain access to 1.3 million homes and businesses in new areas, consisting of new fibre builds in NOS's current cable footprint, NOS's existing fibre reach in areas greenfield to Vodafone, and building homes in new areas.
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Building materials group CRH is nearing an agreement to acquire Florida-based cement company Suwannee American Cement from Votorantim Cimentos and Anderson Columbia, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. The companies could announce an agreement as early as this week, the news agency said. The deal may value Suwannee at about USD750 million.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Insurer Hiscox said it estimates combined net claims of approximately USD225 million for the damage caused across the US and the Caribbean by hurricanes Irma and Harvey. "Although there is still a degree of uncertainty around these hurricanes, this is within the group's modelled range of claims for events of this nature, and we still have depth of cover in our reinsurance programme," the insurer said.
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Kaz Minerals said that, following continued commissioning progress, the Aktogay sulphide plant in eastern Kazakhstan has been declared commercial. Higher-than-anticipated copper grades at the top of the ore body and the successful ramp up of the sulphide concentrator are expected to result in Aktogay meeting or exceeding the upper end of its 2017 copper production guidance range of 70 kilotonnes to 85 kilotonnes, the Kazakhstan-focused miner said.
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NEX Group said revenue for the six months to September 30 increased by 13% on a reported basis, up 7% on a constant currency basis, but added that NEX Optimisation's operating profit margin was squeezed in the half. The financial technology firm, formerly ICAP, said the lower margin was due to an increase investment in sales activities and associated marketing campaigns and "ongoing low volatility impacting the Reset business". The first half operating profit margin is now expected to be approximately 20%. "The divisions operating profit margin is expected to normalise in the second half of the year," NEX said.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Mobile operator O2 could be forced to wait until next year to press ahead with a long-awaited GBP10 billion stock market flotation following delays to a crucial airwaves rights auction, the Press Association reported. The firm, owned by Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, had been awaiting the outcome of a radio spectrum sale originally set for later this year, but the auction has been knocked back into 2018 following a legal challenge from rival operators. Telefonica is understood to have wanted the auction out of the way before triggering the initial public offering to prevent any uncertainty dogging its potential. While the operator made no firm commitment to float this year, it was deemed possible that an IPO could be launched if market volatility subsided and the airwaves auction went ahead as planned.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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An Airbus SE A380 superjumbo operated by Air France was forced to make an emergency landing in eastern Canada after one of its four engine broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft was flying from Paris to Los Angeles when the "serious incident" occurred, prompting the pilots to land in Goose Bay, Labrador, the airline said Sunday in a statement. No one on Air France Flight 66 was hurt and arrangements have been made to get the 497 passengers to California, the airline said. Airbus and France's BEA air-accident investigation bureau dispatched a team of experts to Canada to investigate the aircraft, they said. The Air France plane's jet turbines are made by Engine Alliance, a joint venture of General Electric Co and Pratt & Whitney Corp.
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Deutsche Bank has reached a preliminary settlement with plaintiffs in the US in a dispute over accusations that it manipulated the foreign exchange market, according to court documents filed Friday in New York. If the judge in the case agrees to the preliminary agreement, the bank would pay USD190 million. Deutsche Bank and 15 other financial institutions had been accused in a civil court of of conspiring to manipulate currency benchmark rates. On Friday, the US Federal Reserve said it had fined HSBC Holdings PLC and HSBC North America Holdings Inc USD175 million for "unsafe and unsound practices" in its foreign exchange trading business. Credit Suisse Group is the only one of the banks that has not reached a settlement.
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Monday's Shareholder Meetings

no events scheduled