30th Aug 2018 08:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were lower early Thursday as mining shares and a pound strengthened by indications of progress on Brexit negotiations weighed on the FTSE index.The FTSE 100 index was down 0.5%, or 38.37 points, at 7,524.84 early Thursday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 0.5% at 20,689.00. The AIM All-Share index was marginally higher at 1,100.08.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 12,755.81, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.2% at 18,768.95, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.3% at 12,325.95.Sterling was quoted at USD1.3040 early Thursday, higher than USD1.2999 at the London equities close on Wednesday."The FTSE is...still feeling the after-effects of yesterday's GBP pop back above USD1.30, hindering its international exposure, after comments from EU Brexit negotiator Barnier about the UK potentially securing a bespoke deal. USD off its lows is, however, hampering the commodity space with copper trading lows of the week and oil's rally being halted which may hurt FTSE Energy & Miners," said Michael Van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier struck an optimistic tone on Wednesday, stating: "We are prepared to offer Britain a partnership such as there never has been with any other third country."Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron aims to use an EU summit next month in Salzburg, Austria, to push for a new "alliance" between the bloc and Britain, The Times reported. A new Continental structure would see "concentric circles" with the EU and Euro at its core and the UK in a second ring, according to the newspaper.Brent oil was quoted at USD77.37 early Thursday, higher from USD76.53 at the London equities close on Wednesday.Heavyweight mining stocks opened at the bottom half of the FTSE 100 index due to weak copper prices, with Anglo American down 1.8%, Glencore down 1.6%, BHP Billiton down 1.2% and Rio Tinto down 0.9%.Vodafone Group was down 1.9% after Merrill Lynch cut its rating for the telecommunications firm to Neutral from Buy, following news of an agreed merger for its Australian subsidiary.Vodafone agreed to an AUD15 billion merger of its Vodafone Hutchison Australia subsidiary and internet service provider TPG Telecom.The new company will be called TPG Telecom Ltd and will be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.The merger is expected to be completed next year and is subject to approval from regulators, including the Australian competition watchdog. Energy provider SSE was up 0.2% after noting the findings by the UK Competition & Markets Authority over the proposed merger of SSE Energy Services and npower, Innogy SE's retail business."Following a thorough and in-depth investigation, we are pleased the CMA has provisionally concluded that the proposed merger of SSE Energy Services and npower does not raise competition concerns. The scale and pace of change in the GB energy market continues to be significant and requires us to evolve to stay relevant, competitive and sustainable," said SSE Chief Executive Alistair Philips Davies.On the FTSE 250, energy services group Hunting was the best performer in the midcap index, up 9.3% after reporting positive results for the first half of 2018.For the six months to the end of June, it swung to a pretax profit of USD38.0 million from a loss of USD25.5 million the year before.This was on the back of revenue that grew by 39% to USD442.8 million from USD318.1 million, due to strong activity in US onshore shale basins and improved offshore sentiment in the North America region.Hunting will pay an interim dividend of 4.0 cents per share versus none the prior year.Recruiter Hays opened down 1.7%, as it kept a cautious outlook on its key UK market due to ongoing economic uncertainty in the region despite reporting a strong annual performance.Pretax profit for the year to the end of June rose by 17% to GBP238.5 million from GBP204.6 million the prior year. This was on net fees that grew by 12% to GBP1.07 billion from GBP954.6 million, and revenue that rose to GBP5.75 billion from GBP5.08 billion the prior year.Hays declared an 18% rise in its ordinary dividend to 3.81 pence per share, and an 18% rise in its special dividend to 5.00p per share.The euro was quoted at USD1.1714 early Thursday, up from USD1.1692 at the European equities close Wednesday.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was flat while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.4% early Thursday.Germany's import prices grew at the fastest pace in more than a year in July, data from Destatis showed Thursday. Import price inflation accelerated to 5% in July from 4.8% in June. This was the fastest rate since April 2017, when prices advanced 6.1% but slower than the expected 5.2%. Excluding crude oil and mineral oil products, import prices grew 2.1% from the previous year.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 1.0%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.9%.Related Shares:
HuntingAnglo AmericanRio TintoBHP Billiton PLCHaysVodafoneGlencore