13th Aug 2019 12:00
(Alliance News) - A storm of international uncertainty, ranging from Asia to Europe, was keeping London stocks in the red on Tuesday. Also dragging the UK's headline stock index down was Rolls-Royce Holdings and rating downgrades for InterContinental Hotels Group and Croda. The large-cap FTSE 100 index was 30.47 points lower, or down 0.4%, at 7,196.25 Tuesday midday. The FTSE 250 index was down 87.91 points, or 0.5%, at 18,825.09, while the AIM All-Share was down 0.3% at 874.44.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.6% at 12,195.89. The Cboe UK 250 was down 0.6% at 16,750.63, while the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.2% at 10,907.12.Stocks were in the red on Tuesday as political and economic uncertainty loomed across the globe, said David Madden at CMC Markets."The US-China trade standoff, aggressive easing from some central banks, worries about a no-deal Brexit, chatter that Germany is heading towards a recession, political uncertainty in Italy, the financial meltdown in Argentina, and the tensions in Hong Kong are all contributing to the poor economic climate," Madden said.He added: "Every corner of the global has negative news hanging over it, and that is why traders are trimming their equity positions."In some of this "negative news", German economic sentiment deteriorated more than expected in August to levels not seen since late 2011, as the largest economy in Europe continued to experience strain on exports and industrial output.Data from the ZEW-Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research showed the Indicator of Economic Sentiment fell to negative 44.1 points in August from negative 24.5 in July. This was weaker than the negative 30.0 print forecast by economists, according to data from FXStreet. The August print was the lowest level the indicator has hit since December 2011, sitting considerably below the long-run average of positive 21.6 points. The euro was quoted at USD1.1218 at midday, flat on USD1.1222 late Monday.Naeem Aslam at ThinkMarkets described the data as "completely rotten". "It confirmed that the economic engine of the eurozone has some serious trouble," he commented.In mainland Europe in afternoon trade, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.5% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt slumped 0.9%.To come in the economic calendar, US consumer price inflation is at 1330 BST.Ahead of this, stocks in the US are on course for a downbeat start with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both pointed 0.3% lower while the Nasdaq is set to slide 0.5%.In some positive data, UK wage growth in June surprised to the upside.UK average weekly earnings in the three months to June grew 3.7% on an annual basis including bonuses, while wages were up 3.9% for regular pay, excluding bonuses.Total pay growth came in line with expectations, while consensus for regular pay growth, as cited by FXSteet, had stood at 3.8%.For the three months to May, average weekly earnings growth including bonuses was revised up to 3.5% from 3.4%, while excluding bonuses this came in at 3.6%.ING said this latest upbeat UK jobs data indicates the Bank of England may refrain from an interest rate cut in the near future."The stronger wage growth backdrop suggests that policy easing is unlikely in the near-term. A lot depends on Brexit of course, but for the time being, we think markets may be slightly overestimating the chances of BoE easing - investors are now pricing in a rate cut by early 2020," said ING.The pound was quoted at USD1.2076 at midday, broadly flat on USD1.2071 late Monday but rising off the day's sub-USD1.2050 lows.Turning to equities, Rolls-Royce was among Tuesday's blue-chip losers, shedding 3.1%. Moody's Investors Service downgraded the engine maker's credit rating, citing weak cash flow and high leverage levels.The credit analyst downgraded the long-term debt rating for the FTSE 100-listed firm to Baa1 from A3 previously. The outlook was boosted to Stable from Negative.Moody's downgraded the rating for Rolls-Royce amid adjusted leverage levels sitting at 5.3 times earnings, with the credit analyst not expecting this to fall below 4.0 times over the next year to year-and-a-half. The high cost of rectifying issues with the cracking blades of the Trent 1000 aircraft engines, as well as "limited" free cash flow, also worried Moody's. InterContinental Hotels Group fell 3.0% after Berenberg cut the Holiday Inn chain owner to Hold from Buy.Croda was also hit by a ratings downgrade, slipping 1.7% after Goldman Sachs cut the speciality chemicals firm to Sell from Neutral.British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines was down 1.9%. Authorities at Hong Kong airport on Tuesday suspended all departure check-ins after pro-democracy protesters blocked the facility for a second day, but some flights were still arriving and taking off."Terminal operations at Hong Kong International Airport have been seriously disrupted as a result of the public assembly," the airport authority said in a statement, adding that members of the public are "not advised" to go to the airport. At the top of the FTSE 100 was Mexican gold miner Fresnillo, up 3.1% as it followed the price of the precious metal further higher. Gold was quoted at USD1,531.67 at midday, versus USD1,508.22 late Monday. Since the beginning of August alone, the safe haven asset is up around 8.5%.In the FTSE 250, Plus500 surged 15% after saying it "performed well" in a difficult period for the industry.The contracts-for-difference trading provider's revenue for the six months to June fell 68% year-on-year to USD148.0 million, with pretax profit slumping 82% to USD63.9 million.Plus500's net profit fell 80% to USD51.6 million, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation down 81% to USD65.6 million. Luxury car maker Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings skid 4.6% after Credit Suisse cut the stock to Neutral from Outperform.