31st May 2018 17:17
LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks closed mixed on Thursday as markets were shaken by US tariffs on imported steel and aluminium from the EU, Canada and Mexico, which are expected to take effect on Friday.The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.2%, or 11.37 points, at 7,678.20. The FTSE 250 ended up 0.1%, or 23.59 points, at 20.846.26, and the AIM All-Share closed up 0.2%, or 1.57 points, at 1,082.62.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.3% at 13,046.06, the Cboe 250 closed up 0.2% at 19.030.18, and the Cboe UK Small Companies ended flat at 12,663.68.The two US neighbours and the EU had initially received exemptions when President Donald Trump declared global tariffs on imported metals. Those temporary waivers were extended through May while the White House sought negotiated concessions.However, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday that Trump "has decided in the case of Canada, Mexico and the EU not to extend the exemptions, and therefore they will be placed under the 25% tariff on steel and 10% on aluminium effective at midnight tonight," Ross told reporters.European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called the tariffs "protectionism, pure and simple" and said the EU would announce "counterbalancing" measures within hours.Mexico's Economy Ministry said it would apply countermeasures on products that included steel sheets, lamps, pork leg and shoulder, sausages, apples, grapes and different types of cheese until it reached a sum comparable to the losses that the US tariffs would cause in Mexico."With the petulant President still flip-flopping on his attitudes towards China, the US/North Korea relationship on rocky ground, and Italy and Spain in the midst of political crises, investors really weren't in the mood for another set of trade tensions to emerge. Yet Trump marches to the beat of his own drum, with his administration announcing that tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico will come into effect at midnight. While the markets avoided the kind of bloody losses that have greeted previous tariff updates, it's not like they took the news in their stride either," said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at CMC Markets.On the London Stock Exchange, Russian steelmaker Evraz stood at the top of the FTSE 100, up 5.7% following the US steel and aluminium tariffs.The second best performer was Irish building material company CRH, up 3.7% after it announced that it will establish a new division effective from January 2019 that will bring together parts of its Europe and Americas business. The new Building Products division will combine the Europe Lightside, Europe Distribution and Americas Products divisions under the management of the latter's President Keith Haas. CRH also said it is targeting to improve its group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin by 300 basis points by 2021.Johnson Matthey was up 3.1% after the chemicals firm lifted its total dividend by 6.7% to 80.0 pence per share from 75.0p the year before.For the year to the end of March, Johnson Matthey posted a 17% revenue increase to GBP14.12 billion from GBP12.03 billion last year. However the company's pretax profit decreased 31% to GBP320 million from GBP462 million the year before.At the other end of the index, National Grid remained the worst performer, down 4.7% as the the electricity and utility company went ex-dividend, meaning that new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout. Private healthcare group Mediclinic International was down 2.7% as it is due to be demoted from the FTSE 100 index in mid-June.In the FTSE 250, events firm UBM ended as the best performer, up 3.6% as its GBP3.90 million takeover by FTSE 100-listed rival Informa is to become effective on June 15 after the UK Competition and Markets Authority announced it would not be investigating the acquisition. In China, Germany, Turkey and the US, the regulatory process was already completed. UBM shares will cease trading on June 14.FirstGroup remained stuck at the bottom of the midcaps, down 19% after the bus and train operator swung to a GBP326.9 million pretax loss for the year to the end of March, having reported a GBP152.6 million profit a year earlier due to Greyhound impairment charges. This was on revenue of GBP6.4 billion, up 13% from GBP5.7 billion.In addition, Chief Executive Officer Tim O'Toole stepped down with immediate effect, with Non-Executive Chairman Wolfhart Hauser becoming executive chairman until a new CEO is found. FirstGroup said it has started the process to select a new CEO.In Paris the CAC 40 ended down 0.5%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended down 1.4%. The pound was quoted flat at USD1.3291 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.3291 at the same time on Thursday. The euro stood higher at USD1.1680 at the European equities close, against USD1.6665 the prior day.In economic news, UK house prices dropped unexpectedly in May, figures from Nationwide Building Society revealed Thursday. House prices decreased 0.2% on a monthly basis in May, in contrast to an increase of 0.1% in April. Economists had forecast an increase of 0.2% in May. On a yearly basis, house price growth eased to 2.4% in May from 2.6% a month ago. Prices were expected to gain 3%.Eurozone consumer prices increased at the fastest pace in more than a year in May on energy prices, giving space for the European Central Bank to start scaling back its asset purchase programme. Despite a slowdown in economic growth at the start of the year, the unemployment rate declined in April to the lowest since late 2008, data showed Thursday.Inflation rose more-than-expected to 1.9% in May from 1.2% in April, flash estimate from Eurostat revealed. A similar high rate was last seen in April 2017. The expected rate was 1.6%.Inflation was in line with the ECB's target of 'below, but close to 2%'.In US news, Deutsche Bank's US subsidiary has been added to a federal list of institutions with weaknesses serious enough to threaten their survival, in a move that will add to the issues facing the German lender as it scales back its North American operations, Financial Times reported.Stocks in New York were broadly lower at the London equities close. The DJIA was down 0.8%, the S&P 500 index down 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite broadly flat.Brent oil was broadly flat and was quoted at USD77.66 a barrel at the equities close from USD77.05 at the same time the prior day. Gold was marginally lower quoted at USD1,301.58 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,302.17 on Wednesday.The economic events calendar on Friday there is manufacturing PMI data from Italy, France, Germany, the eurozone and UK at 0845 BST, 0850 BST, 0855 BST, 0900 BST and 0930 BST. In the afternoon there is the closely watched US jobs report for May at 1330 BST.In a light UK corporate calendar there are full year results from marketing firm System1 Group.