16th Aug 2018 08:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 opened higher on Thursday as miners rebounded from Wednesday's losses, though Kingfisher and Evraz dragged on the index. The FTSE 250, also higher, saw strong gains by KAZ Minerals and On the Beach, while Rank Group slumped at the other end.In the UK on Thursday, focus lies on July's retail sales, due at 0930 BST.The FTSE 100 was up 0.3%, or 22.58 points, at 7,520.45 early Thursday, rebounding above the 7,500-point mark from Wednesday's closing price of 7,497.87. The FTSE 250 was also 0.3% higher, or 69.49 points, at 20,389.84. The AIM All-Share was flat at 1,080.63.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.5% at 12,735.93, with the Cboe UK 250 also 0.5% higher at 18,525.04. The Cboe UK Small Companies, however, was down 0.1% at 12,151.54.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.2% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt rose 0.3% in opening trade."Much of the positive mood coming into the European trading session could be attributed to news of a potential detente in US-China trade relations, as China is sending a high-level trade delegation to the US, led by Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen, to discuss the ongoing global tariff confrontation," said Artjom Hatsaturjants at Accendo Markets.The trip will likely coincide with the introduction of new Chinese tariffs on USD16 billion worth of goods, which begins August 23. However, Wang's visit may be a sign that China and the US are looking for an exit from an escalating trade war, as both sides continue to increase tariffs.In the economic calendar on Thursday is the eurozone's trade balance at 1000 BST and US housing starts at 1330 BST, with initial and continuing jobless claims due at the same time.In the UK, economists see retail sales rising 3.0% year-on-year, accelerating from June's 2.9% growth. On a monthly basis, sales are expected to rebound from last month's fall to post a 0.2% gain, following a 0.5% decline in June.However, economists at Lloyds Banking see July's retail sales slipping."Indications from other unofficial surveys point to the likelihood of another small decline in July as warm weather and the World Cup seemingly provided insufficient support. However, it should be noted that this follows a strong rise in sales for Q2 as a whole," said Lloyds.Sterling was quoted at USD1.2712 early Thursday ahead of the data, higher than USD1.2692 at the London equities close on Wednesday.In the FTSE 100, Kingfisher was down 3.0% as weather-related items helped to boost UK sales but it continued to see a tough backdrop in France.B&Q-owner Kingfisher said sales in its second quarter totalled GBP3.26 billion, up 3.4% from last year and 1.6% higher on a like-for-like basis. Consensus had seen like-for-like sales up 1.3%.Within this, B&Q UK & Ireland saw like-for-like sales up 3.6%, with Screwfix sales up 5.5% to drive overall UK & Ireland comparable sales up 4.2%. Like-for-like sales in France were down 1.0%, while Other International was up 1.4%."The better news in this particular quarter is that B&Q's performance rebounded from a poor opening to the year...less positively, the performance in France is something of a concern, where weaker footfall combined with higher costs combined to deliver a negative performance," commented Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.Steelmaker Evraz was the worst blue-chip performer, down 4.6% as the stock went ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest payouts.Meanwhile, miners were populating the top of the FTSE 100 as they rebounded from Wednesday's tumble. Antofagasta was the best performer, up 3.4%, while Glencore was 2.4% higher and Rio Tinto up 2.2%.The stocks had ended Wednesday's session 5.7%, 5.7% and 3.3% lower respectively. Commodity stocks had tumbled in the previous session as copper and gold hit multi-month lows.KAZ Minerals was the best mid-cap performer, up 5.4% after the copper producer said revenue for the first half of the year rose to USD1.10 billion from USD721 million a year before, as pretax profit climbed to USD355 million from USD240 million.The company declared an interim dividend of 6 cents per share as it maintained its full-year copper production guidance at between 270,000 to 300,000 tonnes."Medium-term copper market outlook remains positive, as supply from existing mines declines and demand from both traditional and new sectors continues to grow," said KAZ.On the Beach Group gained 4.1% despite saying "exceptionally" hot UK weather over recent months has suppressed holiday demand. Nonetheless, it still sees annual profit in line with market forecasts. "This has impacted our headline revenue growth during the period, but the weaker demand has driven a significant reduction in the group's marketing spend, ensuring growth in revenue after marketing costs has remained strong," the holiday company said.While August and September are "important" trading months, the company said it continues to expected adjusted pretax profit for the year broadly in line with management expectations.Additionally, the company said it has bought Classic Collection Holidays for GBP20.0 million. The deal is expected to be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership, including some investment from On the Beach.Rank Group was the biggest faller in the FTSE 250, down 4.9% as it reported a fall in revenue for its recently-ended financial year. Revenue fell 2.3% in the financial year ended June 30 to GBP691.0 million, as pretax profit slumped 41% to GBP46.7 million. Like-for-like revenue declined 2.3%. The company, nonetheless, raised its dividend by 2.1% to 7.45p from 7.30p.The performance was in line with revised expectations, Rank said, amid a "challenging" year for its Grosvenor's casinos which were hit by low win margins, enhanced due diligence, and extreme weather keeping people away from casinos. Rank added that, post-period end, trading in six weeks to August 12 has been "challenging" following the unseasonal hot weather hitting its UK retail businesses. Despite this, the recently-commenced financial year is still expected in line with current consensus.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 1.0%.Japan's overall trade climbed 3.9% to JPY6.75 trillion in July, while imports rose 15% to JPY6.98 trillion, leading to a trade deficit of JPY231.2 billion.Japan bought more medical products and vehicles from the EU in July, which contributed to a 29% rise in imports from the bloc to a record JPY889.6 billion. In July, Japan and the EU signed a free trade agreement that will cover around a third of the global economy.Related Shares:
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