8th May 2019 17:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended broadly higher on Wednesday in an attempt to recover from the trade war bombshell the US dropped earlier in the week.In the latest developments, US President Donald Trump confirmed a Chinese delegation will arrive this week in Washington for a last-ditch effort to resolve a trade dispute, with the threat of looming tariffs overshadowing the discussions.Renewed trade concerns weighed on global stock markets earlier this week as news the US plans to raise tariffs on Chinese goods as early as Friday led to renewed fears over a trade war.Trump pledged to raise tariffs on USD200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10% to 25% from Friday. US officials accuse their Chinese counterparts of backing out of commitments made in talks."China has just informed us that they (Vice-Premier) are now coming to the US to make a deal. We'll see, but I am very happy with over USD100 billion a year in tariffs filling US coffers...great for US, not good for China!" Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday.Major stock indices in New York were flat at the London equities close as investors tentatively look ahead to the latest round of US-China trade talks scheduled for the coming days.Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington for two days of negotiations starting Thursday."The key event on Thursday is the resumption of US-China trade talks in Washington. As things stand, the tariff rate charged on USD200 billion of Chinese imports will rise from 10% to 25% on Friday, but President Trump's latest comments suggest there is still a chance of a deal being agreed before that deadline," said analysts at Capital Economics. The FTSE 100 index closed up 10.53 points, or 0.2%, at 7,271.00. The FTSE 250 ended up 66.22 points, or 0.3%, at 19,531.91, and the AIM All-Share closed down 3.47 points, or 0.4%, at 962.33.The Cboe UK 100 closed up 0.3% at 12,327.99, the Cboe UK 250 up 0.4% at 17,555.19, the Cboe UK Small Companies ended down 0.1% at 11,736.76.On the London Stock Exchange, oil majors ended among the blue chip risers, tracking spot oil prices higher.Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and 'B' shares closed up 1.8% and 1.6% respectively, while BP ended 1.0% higher.Brent oil was quoted at USD70.52 a barrel at the London equities close, up from USD70.08 at the close Tuesday. The North Sea benchmark had touched an intraday low of USD69.32 in morning trade. Crude oil prices inched higher after the Energy Information Administration reported a draw in US crude oil inventories of around 4 million barrels for the week to May 3. The consensus estimate anticipated a build of 1.2 million barrels.This compared to a hefty 9.9 million-barrel inventory build last week, which had pressured prices substantially.At the other end of the large cap index, Imperial Brands ended the worst performer, down 6.3% despite reporting a jump in interim profit, as it registered a decline in tobacco volumes.Revenue for the half was GBP14.39 billion, rising 2.3% from GBP14.06 billion a year before, with Tobacco & Next Generation Product revenue up 1.5% at GBP10.63 billion from GBP10.47 billion and Distribution revenue up 6.1% at GBP4.19 billion from GBP3.95 billion.At constant currency, total net revenue was up 2.5%, benefiting from a 2.9% increase from Next Generation Products but suffering a 0.4% decline from tobacco.The company posted a pretax profit of GBP1.02 billion for the six months to March 31, a sharp 70% rise from GBP600 million a year before.Tobacco volumes were down 6.9% overall for the half year, falling to 115.2 billion stick equivalents from 123.6 billion a year before. The decline was seen across all three of its regions - Europe, the Americas, and Africa, Asia & Australasia - with the last having the sharpest decline.ITV closed down 6.1% after the broadcaster reported a decline in revenue and warned of a rough year ahead amid Brexit uncertainty. ITV said Wednesday, ahead of its general meeting, that the first quarter of 2019 proceeded "as expected", with overall revenue down on a decline in advertising as well as economic uncertainty.For the three months to the end of March, the broadcaster reported total external revenue of GBP743 million, down 4% from GBP772 million the year before.Total advertising revenue, which includes net advertising revenue, online videos-on-demand and sponsorship, was down 7% at GBP417 million from GBP448 million the prior year.Non-advertising revenue was down 1% at GBP457 million, from GBP460 million.Looking ahead, ITV's first half of 2019 is expected to be hampered by lower advertising demand due to continued economic and political uncertainty, as well as the absence of the Football World Cup event.Liberum cut the stock to Hold from Buy saying it does not see a material improvement in trading conditions "any time soon" and was forced to "put through another downgrade to forecasts". In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 0.4%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.7%. The pound was quoted at USD1.3015 at the London equities close, down from USD1.3050 late Tuesday.Sterling slipped against the dollar as UK cross-party Brexit talks failed to show a breakthrough and pressure mounted on UK Prime Minister Theresa May to step down from her position.Talks between the Government and Labor to break the Brexit deadlock delivered little progress on Tuesday, with Labor sources describing them as "tense and robust"."Sterling has come under pressure again as the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, and the lack of clarity in regards to the situation has chipped away at investors' confidence in the pound. It was confirmed that the talks between the Conservative Party and the Labour Party will continue today, but traders aren't holding out much hope," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden. The euro stood at USD1.1211 at the European equities close, up from USD1.1189 late Tuesday. In US company news, Lyft shares were down 7.6% at USD54.31 in New York as the company reported its first set of earnings as a public company. The ride-hailing company after the market close Tuesday, reported a first-quarter loss of USD1.14 billion, on revenue of USD776 million, up from USD397.2 million in the first quarter a year ago, according to Lyft's IPO filing.The stock is down 25% from its initial public offering price of USD72.Lyft's larger rival Uber Technologies will list on the New York Stock Exchange later this week, aiming at a huge valuation, despite only posting losses over the last 10 years.Over the past decade, Uber has secured almost USD20 billion from investors amid an aggressive global growth strategy. At the same time, the company has faced repeated conflict with government authorities and the traditional taxi sector.Uber drivers in the UK, Australia, the US and other countries planned to switch off their apps and hold protests against the company's alleged "large-scale worker exploitation" on Wednesday.Gold was quoted at USD1,282.27 an ounce at the London equities close, flat against USD1,284.52 late Tuesday.The economic events calendar on Thursday has China and Ireland inflation data at 0230 BST and 1100 BST respectively. In the afternoon, there are US producer prices at 1330 BST. The UK corporate calendar on Thursday has annual results from telecommunications firm BT Group and a trading statement from housebuilder Barratt Developments. There are also first-quarter results from supermarket chain WM Morrison Supermarkets, insurer RSA Insurance Group and transport operator National Express Group.
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