The Market Close – Shareholders give Standard Life merger the go ahead

Today's Closing Update

U.S. shares opened higher , with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a record high, as investors snapped up beaten down technology stocks.

 

European and U.K. shares leapt with French shares rising by the most in more than a month after French President Emmanuel Macron’s upstart party scored a majority in parliamentary elections on Sunday.

 

Chancellor Philip Hammond and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney are due to deliver their delayed Mansion House speeches on Tuesday. The Mansion House event was rescheduled from last week after the Grenfell Tower disaster and will instead be held as a breakfast event on Tuesday. Hammond is expected lay out some of his economic plans and push for a new approach in Britain’s exit talks with the European Union.

 

Aberdeen Asset Management said its shareholders have voted to approve its planned merger with Standard Life. Aberdeen said that at a general meeting of its shareholders, 96% of votes cast, or 992.1m in total, were in favour of the merger scheme. A total of 79% of the company’s issued share capital voted. “We are pleased with the overwhelming support Aberdeen shareholders have shown for the proposed merger. They recognise the strategic and financial rationale of the transaction which will create the UK’s largest active asset manager and one of the top 25 globally,” said Simon Troughton, chairman of Aberdeen Asset Management.

 

Royal Dutch Shell said it has issued 33.9m ‘A’ shares of  each to be admitted to trading. The shares are to be issued as a scrip dividend alternative to receiving a cash dividend in respect of the first-quarter 2017 interim dividend and dealings are expected to commence on 26th June. Revenues at Bonmarche – one of the UK’s largest women’s value retailers – rose to £190.1m in the 53 weeks to 1st April from £188m last time. Chief executive Helen Connolly said: “Since joining the business almost a year ago, I have been struck by the passion and drive of colleagues throughout the business and I am confident that with our current focus on modernising and improving the offering for our customers, we remain well placed to serve the 50 plus women’s value clothing market.

 

Boeing unveiled plans for a newer and bigger version of its 737 Max aircraft as it intensifies its battle with Airbus in the market for narrow-body passenger jets. Boeing made the announcement for its new “737 Max 10” Monday at the Paris Air Show. The stretched Max 10 will become the latest variant in Boeing’s 737 Max family, which also includes the smaller Max 7, Max 8 and Max 9 types. “Our customers told us to build it bigger,” Boeing Commercial Airplane CEO Kevin McAllister said about the newest version of the 737 Max.

 

Oil prices steadied, pausing for breath after coming under pressure over the past month from rising production in the United States, Libya and Nigeria, which has taken the edge off an OPEC-led initiative to support the market by cutting production.

 

Gold hit four-week lows as the dollar rose after hawkish comments from a top Fed official, but prices were supported by uncertainty created by the start of talks on the terms of Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Market Close

Market	Index	Change	% Change
UK 100	7523.8	+60.3	+0.8%
UK 250	19,873.3	+56.9	+0.3%
GER 30	12,896.7	+144.0	+1.1%
FRA 40	5,318.1	+54.8	+1.0%
U.S. 30	21,495.14	+110.86	+0.5%
U.S. 500	2,449.3	+16.2	+0.7%
OIL (BRENT)	47.55	+0.18	+0.4%
GOLD	1,248.95	-4.78	-0.4%

UK Risers & Fallers

Company	Price	Change	% Change
Ocado	306.5	+30.6	+11.1%
G4S	336	+14.8	+4.6%
Glencore	288.4	+8.65	+3.1%
Cairn Energy	178.45	-9.4	-5.0%
Hammerson	594	-8	-1.3%
Paddy Power Betfair	8525	-95	-1.1%

Reported Economic Data

Time/Date	Previous	Forecast	Outcome
12:00pm: U.S. FOMC Member Dudley Speaks	–	–	–
3:00pm: German Buba President Weidmann Speaks	–	–	–