London open: Footsie edges higher after Fed decision

19th Mar 2015 08:49

The Footsie began the morning higher as traders digested a surprisingly dovish set of macroeconomic projections from the US Federal Reserve overnight which set off sharp moves in all asset classes.At 09:15 the top flight index was 16 points higher at 6,961.30.As expected, the US central bank omitted any reference to being "patient" when starting to tighten interest rates.However, the 17 members of the Federal Open Market Committee nearly halved their median projection for the level of the Fed funds rate at year-end 2015 to 0.625%. They also lowered their estimates for the following two years despite having reduced their forecasts for inflation and unemployment.The communiqué from the Fed and follow-up conference from Chair Janet Yellen saw the euro/dollar register its large intraday gain since 2000, no less. Prompt month Brent crude futures were catapulted 5% higher on the news. The main Wall Street market gauges all closed higher by approximately a full percentage point.Acting as a backdrop, on Thursday investors were expected to focus on the summit of European Union heads of government and the news-flow surrounding the negotiations with Greece.To take note of, against analysts' predictions Norway's central bank maintained its deposit rate at 1.25%, instead of reducing it by 25 basis points.That triggered a sharp appreciation in the country's currency, the Krona, versus the euro, rising by 1.69% to 8.72.Next drops after full-year profitsUK clothing retailer Next grew its underlying pre-tax profit by 12.5% last year as overall sales rose by 7.2%. The company said its share buyback scheme meant that underlying EPS grew by 14.7% and dividends for the full year will increase by 16.3%, to 150p.Auto Trader Group, the UK car classified company on Thursday priced 590m shares at 235p/share in its initial public offering in the London market. The company is raising £437m of net proceeds in the offer with its private equity owner, Apax expected to raise around £926.2m out of the flotation.Chip designer ARM Holdings's market share in servers may reach 20% by 2020, versus less than 1% at present, the company has reportedly said. The London-listed outfit was scheduled to make a presentation at today's Bank of America Merrill Lynch Technology & Beyond Conference, in Taiwan.Electronics components distributor Premier Farnell reported adjusted profits before tax down 3% to reach £74m in 2014 but maintained its full-year dividend payout at 10.4p. That came on the back of a 0.8% fall in full-year revenues to £960.1m. However, the company's operating margins declined by less than forecast by analysts, slipping by 40 basis points, to 9.2%. The analyst consensus was for margins of 9%.AstraZeneca has signed an agreement with Japanese-headquartered company Daiichi Sankyo to jointly commercialise a new drug called Movantik, an oral treatment for opioid-induced constipation in adults with chronic non-cancer pain. No longer labelled a controlled substance by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, its launch has been scheduled to take place early in April 2015.Savills reported a 21% increase in pre-tax profit to £84.7m, as revenue rose 19% to £1.08bn driven by a 38% increase in transaction advisory revenue, which the company attributed to the performance of the Savills Studley business in the US, strong performances in Asia and the UK and recovery in some European markets.