European indices and U.S stock index futures are trading little changed 

European indices and U.S stock index futures are trading little changed as investors remain hesitant to enter the markets before tonight’s FOMC Meetings Minutes. Market participants expect Federal Reserve policymakers to emphasise their reluctance to taper record bond purchases in the near future, with the majority of economists of the belief that the Fed will reduce the pace to $70 billion - from $85 billion – at their 18th-19th meeting.

Additionally, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the central bank will probably hold down its target interest rate at near zero for a considerable time after the asset purchases end, and possibly after unemployment falls below 6.5 percent. The main sentiment being that asset purchases are not on a pre-set course.

U.S data released today has beaten early forecasts in another encouraging sign that the U.S economy is really gathering momentum. Monthly retail sales have increased by 0.4% on last month whilst core retail sales rose 0.2%, this was against 0.1% forecasts for both. Whilst this has had a positive effect on the markets, we have not seen significant gains in either European indices or U.S future. The focus remains squarely on tonight’s Fed Meeting Minutes.

Risers:

Aberdeen Asset Management

Shares in Aberdeen Asset Management traded over 3 percent higher, leading the FTSE 100 risers after reporting their Half Yearly report. Aberdeen will overtake Schroders as Europe’s biggest quoted standalone fund manager following the £640m deal with Lloyds. This will allow them to increase its assets under management from about £200 billion to £336 billion. The stock rating of Aberdeen has been raised to Neutral from Underperform by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.

 

Telecom plus

Telecom Plus PLC, trading as the Utility Warehouse, Wednesday lifted its dividend payment after reporting a rise in first half pre-tax profit, and said that the board remains confident of delivering record turnover, profits and earnings per share for the full year. Telecom Plus Plc said it had agreed to buy two energy supply units of RWE Npower for £218 million, in a bid to improve energy margins and offer more competitive tariffs

 

International Personal Finance

The home credit business, Wednesday announced the appointment of Adrian Gardner to its board as chief financial officer. David Broadbent, who has served as finance director since 2007, is taking on the role of chief commercial officer. Shares react positively on the news.

 

ServicePower,

ServicePower Technologies PLC, a field service management firm, said Wednesday the strong growth in revenue in the first half of this year has continued into the second half, with steady performance month by month expected through year end. In tandem with driving revenue growth, the management team remains focused on delivering improved operating margins, providing a strong financial footing for the business for it to enter into 2014.

Fallers:

Hikma Pharmaceuticals

Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc has signed a long term commercial supply contract with Unilife Corp. for the use of Unifill prefilled syringes with a range of generic injectable drugs. Under the 15-year global agreement, Unilife will supply Hikma with customised prefillable delivery systems from its Unifill platform, including the Unifill syringe and the Unifill Nexus. Shares in Hikma declines on the news.

 

HICL Infrastructure

HICL Infrastructure Company Ltd Wednesday said its half-year pre-tax profit declined significantly after taking losses on UK long-term gilts. The infrastructure investment company said it made a £18.9 million pre-tax profit in the six months to September 30, compared with £87.4 million for the corresponding period last year. "Profit before tax has been adversely affected by significant losses on finance receivables caused by a 0.5% increase in UK long-term gilt rates over the six months to September which has only partly been offset by positive interest rate and inflation rate swap mark-to-market movements," Chairman Graham Picken said in a statement.

 

GoldStone Resources

Goldstone Resources, the company focused on gold in West and Central Africa, has posted a significantly narrowed pre-tax loss for the first half of the year, and said that it will require further funding to advance the Gabonese projects in 2014. Pre-tax loss for six months ended Aug. 31 amounted to $705,550, compared with a pre-tax loss of $4.5 million in the year ago period

 

Mariana Resources

Mariana Resources Ltd has confirmed that the first two holes drilled at the Condor de Oro project in Chile encountered both porphyry-related copper-molybdenum mineralisation and epithermal gold. The first hole was “strongly anomalous” in gold, the company said, with 62 metres of mineralisation from surface grading 0.4 grams per tonne (g/t), with 12 metres at 0.85 g/t. Copper grades of up to 0.26% were also recorded. In the second, significant molybdenum was intersected in quartz veins hosted in porphyry mineralisation, with the best intersection of 26.8 metres at 110 parts per mln molybdenum.

 

Cineworld Group

Shares in the cinema chain operating in the UK, Ireland and Jersey have announced its chief executive and founder is to step down in March after 18 years with the business to "enjoy the fruits of his success". Steve Wiener, who has been in the cinema industry for 44 years, left his job as Managing Director of Warner Bros Europe to set up the business in 1995, growing it to a chain of 34 before it was bought by private equity group Blackstone in 2004. Wiener will leave the business on March 31, Cineworld said, adding an announcement on his successor would follow later.