London open: Stocks gain despite hawkish Fed remarks

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Stocks recovered after opening in the red, despite rather hawkish comments over the weekend from at least two top-ranking officials at the US Federal Reserve. Speaking on Saturday, the president of the San Francisco Fed, John Williams, said he believes it remains appropriate to raise short-term interest rates before year-end. His words were echoed by his peers at the Federal Reserve banks of Richmond and St.Louis.

The latter said that last Thursday's Fed decision had "created rather than reduced global macroeconomic uncertainty". Rate-setters in the US are "ready to go" next month, should conditions warrant.

As of 09:19 the Footsie was 7.14 points higher to reach 6,110.38.

For its part, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index advanced 1.89% to reach 3,156.54 by the end of trading on Monday.

Also over the weekend, Alexis Tsipras' Syriza party achieved an unexpectedly clean victory in Greece's elections, although it fell short of a majority. His party obtained 145 of the 300 seats in the Athenian parliament. That meant he would be forced into coalition with the small right wing party Independent Greeks which secured 10 seats in the election.

"There can be no confusion any more, the party now once again has a very clear mandate which it intends to implement over the full four-year term.

"While the victory ensures more years of painful austerity for the Greeks, it also brings back some welcome certainty and stability which is going to be extremely important for the country going forward. Grexit risks have now diminished and the Greeks have made their position perfectly clear, they want to remain in the euro, even if it means more pain in the short term," wrote Craig Erlam, Senior Market Analyst at Oanda.

Zurich Insurance pulls out of talks for RSA RSA Insurance has announced that Zurich Insurance has terminated discussions with the London-listed insurer regarding a possible offer. Zurich, which issued third-quarter results on Monday said in a statement that it has terminated talks with RSA due to the recent deterioration in the trading performance of its general insurance business. "The group's focus instead will be on taking the necessary actions to deliver on the required performance of the General Insurance business," it said.

Online white goods retailer AO World said it's on track to deliver on its long-term strategic objectives and expects overall revenue for the quarter ended September to grow by 20% to 21% year-on-year, driven by AO.com sales of over 30%. In a trading update ahead of its interim results on 24 November, AO said the UK business continues to grow and it has accelerated its investment in the AO.com brand over the quarter through TV advertising and other media.

O2 could once again become a listed company if a proposed merger with Three goes ahead. In an interview with the Financial Times, CK Hutchison co-group managing director Canning Fok said an initial public offering of the combined £15bn business has been discussed with external investors. "There is a liquidity requirement by our investor group and one way to provide will be an IPO, which we will support," he said.

Al Noor Hospitals has acquired Rochester Wellness for an undisclosed sum. The FTSE 250-lised Abu Dhabi private healthcare provider said in an announcement on Monday that it will expand the group's continuum of care by adding long term care services in Dubai and Oman.

Anita Frew has replaced Martin Flower as the chairman of Croda International , the chemical manufacturer confirmed on Monday. In March, the FTSE 250 company announced that Flower, who had chaired the group for 10 years, would step down from his role and would be succeeded by Frew, the then non-executive director and designate chairman.

Lufthansa passengers will be able to use the internet on European flights next summer as part of a collaboration with satellite communications firm Inmarsat . In a separate deal, Inmarsat said it had joined forces with Deutsche Telecom to create a combined satellite and ground network to provide European travellers with internet connections. Lufthansa said it had committed to join a trial of this programme in 2017.

Market Movers techMARK 3,066.59 +0.22% FTSE 100 6,123.71 +0.32% FTSE 250 16,900.18 -0.30% FTSE 100 - Risers Shire Plc (SHP) 4,901.00p +3.29% Inmarsat (ISAT) 1,006.00p +1.77% SSE (SSE) 1,452.00p +1.68% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,163.00p +1.66% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 201.80p +1.46% Wolseley (WOS) 4,193.00p +1.38% St James's Place (STJ) 883.50p +1.26% Babcock International Group (BAB) 923.00p +1.26% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,123.00p +1.19% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,859.00p +1.09% FTSE 100 - Fallers RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 405.20p -20.47% Standard Chartered (STAN) 699.10p -3.27% Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 323.70p -2.26% Glencore (GLEN) 123.45p -2.02% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 594.50p -1.00% BT Group (BT.A) 410.85p -1.00% Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,525.00p -0.82% GKN (GKN) 271.70p -0.77% ARM Holdings (ARM) 955.00p -0.57% BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,092.00p -0.55% FTSE 250 - Risers Redefine International (RDI) 53.95p +2.57% Cranswick (CWK) 1,647.00p +2.17% Northgate (NTG) 489.80p +2.11% Card Factory (CARD) 361.40p +1.63% Clarkson (CKN) 2,163.00p +1.45% Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 6,060.00p +1.42% Acacia Mining (ACA) 253.30p +1.32% Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 575.00p +1.23% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 931.00p +1.20% NMC Health (NMC) 775.50p +1.17% FTSE 250 - Fallers Rotork (ROR) 174.80p -6.32% Vesuvius (VSVS) 359.70p -5.24% Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 106.20p -4.32% PayPoint (PAY) 1,055.00p -3.30% AO World (AO.) 164.40p -3.24% Sophos Group (SOPH) 254.50p -3.14% Evraz (EVR) 66.60p -3.13% Polymetal International (POLY) 533.50p -3.09% Ashmore Group (ASHM) 256.00p -3.07% Bodycote (BOY) 584.00p -2.91%