The Market Close - BP announces major gas discovery off Senegal - Collins Sarri Statham Investments

Today's Closing Update

U.S. shares stocks open little changed as investors looked for fresh catalysts following centrist Emmanuel Macron’s widely expected victory in the French presidential election

UK and European Shares diverged as UK stocks rose slightly while shares across continental Europe slipped, with shares in Paris retreating from a nine-year high after market favorite Emmanuel Macron won the French presidential election on Sunday.

BP said it has made a “major gas discovery” while drilling the Yakaar-1 exploration well offshore Senegal under a joint venture with Kosmos Energy, and said it will couple it with the Teranga discovery to form the foundation of a new liquefied natural gas hub in the basin.

Diageo said its expectations for its full financial year to the end of June remain unchanged as trading has continued to be in line with expectations. “The year has continued well, and our expectation of delivering stronger financial performance this year is unchanged. We remain confident of achieving our medium-term objective of consistent mid-single digit organic top line growth and 100 basis points of organic operating margin in the three years ending fiscal 2019,” said Chief Executive Ivan Menezes.

Prime Minister Theresa May promised to keep her Conservative party’s target of reducing Britain’s annual net migration levels to below 100,000 arrivals, ahead of the expected publication of her election manifesto next week. May said the target is necessary because of the impact that migration “has, particularly on people at the lower end of the income scale, and in terms of the pressure on public services.

Unite Group said it has begun the process to redeem the convertible bonds due October 10, 2018 by wholly owned subsidiary Unite Jersey Issuer Ltd, in response to recent share price performance. Unite Jersey Issuer has sent a notice to redeem all outstanding bonds on 22nd June at the principal amount with any accrued but unpaid interest. As of Monday, £78.7m of the bonds remain outstanding.

House prices in the three months to April were up 3.8% on the same period a year ago, unchanged from March and remaining at the lowest annual rate since May 2013, according to data from lender Halifax. Economists had been expecting house price growth to slow to 3.6%. Meanwhile, house prices were down 0.1% to £219,649 compared to March when they were flat, marking the first monthly drop since January, while the quarterly change was a 0.2% decline.

Coach is offering $18.50 a share for Kate Spade in a bid to create a multi-brand fashion house. Both firms are grappling with sliding sales at US department stores where their products have traditionally been sold. Shares in Coach rose 4.6% in New York, while Kate Spade jumped 8.2%.

Oil Prices rose, reversing earlier losses, after sources said OPEC and its partners were considering extending their existing supply deal possibly into next year, which helped offset the bearish impact of more increases in U.S. crude output.

Gold prices snapped back after suffering their largest weekly loss of the year, breaking with the metal’s typically inverse relationship to a firmer dollar as global markets digested Sunday’s French election.

Market Close

Market	Index	Change	% Change
UK 100	7,300.9	+3.4	+0.1%
UK 250	19,729.7	+30.1	+0.2%
GER 30	12,701.4	-15.5	-0.1%
FRA 40	5,379.3	-53.1	-1.0%
U.S. 30	20,996.92	-10.02	-0.1%
U.S. 500	2,396.6	-2.7	-0.1%
OIL (BRENT)	49.15	+0.05	+0.1%
GOLD	1,228.64	+0.63	+0.1%

UK Risers & Fallers

Company	Price	Change	% Change
Restaurant Group	347.3	+19	+5.8%
Intu Properties	275.5	+5.8	+2.2%
Paddy Power Betfair	8250	+170	+2.1%
BBA Aviation	299.7	-14.1	-4.5%
Anglo American	1009.5	-21	-2%
Antofagasta	753.5	-15.5	-2%

Reported Economic Data

Time/Date	Previous	Forecast	Outcome
7:30am: U.K. Halifax HPI m/m	0.0%	0.1%	-0.1%
8:30am: European Sentix Investor Confidence	23.9	25.3	27.4
2:00pm: U.S. Labour Market Conditions Index m/m	3.6	–	3.5