17th Aug 2018 17:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London finished mixed on Friday as Brexit and Turkey weigh on markets, while KAZ Minerals shares slumped in the mid cap index. The FTSE 100 index closed marginally lower, by 2.65 points, at 7,553.73 on Friday, ending 1.5% lower for the week. The FTSE 250 ended 0.1% lower, or 23.48 points, at 20,438.78 and the AIM All-Share closed 0.1% higher at 1,079.16.The Cboe UK 100 closed 0.1% lower at 12,798.35, the Cboe UK 250 finished 0.2% lower at 18,557.79, and the Cboe UK Small Companies closed 0.2% higher at 12,182.62.Sterling was quoted at USD1.2733 at the close Friday, lower than USD1.2727 at the London equities close on Thursday."After a subdued start the FTSE grinded lower across the session with buyers in short supply as Brexit concerns and Turkey remained in the spotlight," said City Index's Fiona Cincotta. "News the US is prepared to levy further sanctions on Turkey if President Erdogan refuses to release the American pastor at the centre of the geopolitical spat, sent the Turkish lira southwards once again," Cincotta continued."The lira falling by more than 7% at one-point shows the Turkish crisis is far from over. Whilst financial support from Qatar has helped stabilise the situation, Turkey remains a very real risk for the markets."Turkey and the US have exchanged new threats of sanctions, keeping alive a diplomatic and financial crisis threatening the economic stability of the NATO country.Turkey's lira fell again after Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said her government would respond to any new trade duties, which US President Donald Trump threatened in an overnight tweet.A Turkish court has refused to release an American pastor at the centre of an escalating diplomatic and trade spat between Washington and Ankara, with the US warning of more sanctions.On Friday, a higher court in the Aegean province of Izmir rejected both the appeal for Andrew Brunson's release from house arrest and the lifting of a travel ban against him.Authorities are still examining the evidence against Brunson, who is also a flight risk because he is a foreigner, the court said in its ruling.The 50-year-old pastor, who is being tried on espionage and terrorism-related charges, was detained in October 2016 and arrested that December in the aftermath of a failed coup.In the US, stocks were mixed at the London close. The Dow Jones was 0.2% higher, the S&P 500 also 0.1% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite 0.3% lower. Trump said Friday he had asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to consider whether to change corporate reporting requirements from once every three months to twice annually."I thought about it and it makes sense to me," Trump said outside the White House. "We are looking at that very seriously."He was commenting on a Twitter post he sent earlier in the day."In speaking with some of the world's top business leaders I asked what it is that would make business (jobs) even better in the US "Stop quarterly reporting & go to a six month system," said one. That would allow greater flexibility & save money. I have asked the SEC to study!" the tweet said.Partly reflecting concerns about inflation, the University of Michigan released a report on Friday unexpectedly showing a notable deterioration in US consumer sentiment in the month of August.The preliminary report said the consumer sentiment index dropped to 95.3 in August after edging down to 97.9 in July. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 98.0.Surveys of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin said the decrease in consumer sentiment was concentrated among households in the bottom third of the income distribution amid less favourable perceptions of market prices."The data suggest that consumers have become much more sensitive to even relatively low inflation rates than in past decades," Curtin said.He added, "Overall, the data indicate that consumers have little tolerance for overshooting inflation targets, and to the benefit of the Fed, interest rates now play a more decisive role in purchase decisions."Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported US trade talks with China would take place in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, just before the next round of levies targeting USD16 billion worth of goods on both sides kick in on Thursday next week.Earlier Friday, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said a no-deal Brexit would be a "mistake we would regret for generations", Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said. Hunt also said the government would consider EU proposals that demanded accepting European environmental and social legislation, in order to facilitate a free trade agreement.The comments came in an interview with ITV News after a meeting with the Dutch foreign minister as part of a three-day tour of Northern Europe.In addition, a series of UK government preparation papers for a "no deal" Brexit will cover more than 80 specific subjects ranging from blood safety to driving licenses, according to news reports. Under current plans the reports will be published in batches, starting as early as next week and running through September.A provisional list of headings for each paper has been published by BuzzFeed News. The reports are the product of a cross-Whitehall initiative ordered by the former Brexit secretary David Davis to ensure that the UK was prepared to leave the EU without a deal in the event that the Brexit negotiations broke downIn the FTSE 100, RSA Insurance ended up 0.2% at 632.09 pence, after Barclays raised its price target on the stock to 693p from 682p, retaining an Overweight rating.DIY retailer Kingfisher closed 2.1% lower after several brokers cut their price target - including Deutsche Bank, CFRA, HSBC and UBS - following Kingfisher's second-quarter trading update on Thursday.Kingfisher shares had closed down 4.8% on Thursday despite reporting strong results in the UK and Ireland, helped by "improved performance of weather-related categories".Kingfisher's performance in France, however, suffered from "weaker footfall". Castorama sales decreased 3.1% to GBP648 million from GBP668 million.Total second quarter group sales were flat at GBP1.19 billion, with like-for-like sales down 1.0%.In the FTSE 250 index, KAZ Minerals ended comfortably the worst performer, 15% lower at the close, as brokers such as JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, UBS and Deutsche Bank cut their price target for the copper miner despite positive results on Thursday.The negative opinion stems from the decision by KAZ Minerals at the start of August to acquire the Baimskaya copper project in the Chukotka region of Russia for USD900 million in cash and shares."The market reaction to the Baimskaya deal has been extremely negative," said Deutsche Bank's Mairead Smith."Copper price weakness and reports of higher mining taxes in Russia have not helped sentiment," she continued. "From a strategic perspective, the Baimskaya project makes some sense. It provides volumes growth from 2027 and will offset expected declines across the rest of the portfolio. However, the combination of country, execution and funding risks has rightly alarmed investors."In a quiet UK corporate calendar on Monday, there are interim results from NMC Health and TBC Bank.The calendar later in the week includes BHP Billiton releasing full year results on Tuesday and CRH interims on Thursday.The euro was quoted at USD1.1413 at the London close Friday, lower from USD1.1392 at the European equities close Thursday.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.1% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.2% Friday.Eurozone inflation accelerated for a third straight month in July, as initially estimated, to its highest level since late 2012, final data from Eurostat showed Friday.The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 2.1% year-on-year in July, after climbing 2% in June. The rate came in line with the estimate published on July 31.The latest inflation figure was the highest since December 2012.Thus, inflation has exceeded the European Central Bank's target of "below, but close to 2%" for a second month in a row.Core inflation, excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, accelerated to 1.1% in July, as estimated, from 0.9% in June.On a monthly basis, the HICP slid 0.2% and core prices dropped 0.5% in July.In addition, the European Central Bank reported that the euro area current account surplus remained flat in June.The current account surplus totaled a seasonally adjusted EUR24 billion in June, the same as seen in May.The surplus on trade in goods rose to EUR23 billion from EUR22 billion in May. At the same time, the services surplus remained unchanged at EUR9 billion.The surplus on primary income doubled to EUR6 billion from EUR3 billion. Meanwhile, the deficit on secondary income widened to EUR14 billion from EUR10 billion a month ago.Brent oil was higher quoted at USD71.67 a barrel at the London equities close Friday from USD71.07 at the close on Thursday.Gold was down quoted at USD1,178.54 an ounce Friday from USD1,179.35 an ounce at the London equities close Thursday, trading at its lowest levels for some 18 months.In the economic calendar on Monday is German PPI at 0700 BST, as well as EU construction at 1000 BST. Later in the week there are UK industrial trends on Tuesday, US manufacturing and services PMI on Thursday, and German and eurozone PMI also on Thursday.Related Shares:
KingfisherKAZ.LRSA.L