20th Jul 2018 08:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened mixed on Friday as a weaker pound benefited the dollar-earner heavy FTSE 100 index, while Beazley weighed on the FTSE 250 following disappointing earnings. The FTSE 100 index was up 0.2%, or 15.18 points, at 7,699.15. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 0.2% at 20,870.22. The AIM All-Share index was flat at 1,094.77.The Cboe UK 100 was flat at 13,025.10, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.2% at 19,002.27, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.2% 12,519.10.On the London Stock Exchange, Unilever was among the blue-chip risers, up 0.8% after the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods firm said it has completed the first EUR3 billion tranche of its previously announced EUR6 billion share buyback programme.On Thursday, the Dove soap maker had reported a year-on-year drop in sales and profit for the first half of 2018 on the back of a truckers strike in Brazil, weakening of economic conditions in Argentina, and adverse currency movements. The stock closed up 2.8%. At the other end of the large cap index, Smiths Group was down 1.0% after JPMorgan removed the engineer from its Analyst Focus List. However the investment bank maintained its Overweight rating on the stock. In the FTSE 250, Sirius Minerals was up 1.2% after the fertilizer development company said it has signed supply agreements for POLY4 fertilizer with two new Chinese customers.Sirius, which is developing a large polyhalite mine in north Yorkshire, has signed a 10-year take-or-pay supply agreement with each of Guangzhou Eiliseng Biotech Co and Yantai Service Agricultural Science and Technology Co for the resale of POLY4 into southern and northern provinces of China.Pricing terms of both the agreements are consistent with the company's existing agreements, Sirius said.At the other end of the midcap index, Beazley was comfortably the worst performer, down 13% after the insurer reported a fall in profit in the first half of its current financial year, hit by a decline in investment performance.Beazley reported pretax profit of USD57.5 million for the six months to the end of June, down 64% from USD158.7 million for the same period in 2017.The decline reflects a much lower investment return than the same period in 2017, down significantly to USD8.0 million from USD79.4 million. The drop in investment performance was caused by the recent rise in US interest rates, Beazley said.Beazley said it achieved a combined ratio at 95%, up from 90% a year prior. The higher ratio represents a deterioration of underwriting profitability, as the further the ratio is below 100%, the more profitable the insurer's underwriting business.Sterling was quoted at USD1.3000 early Friday, marginally higher compared to USD1.2986 at the London equities close on Thursday. The pound is trading at around 10-month lows versus the greenback.In political news, Theresa May is to tell the EU to "evolve" its stance on Brexit, warning that previous positions are "unworkable".The UK prime minister will use a speech in Belfast on Friday to reiterate her refusal to contemplate any backstop deal that treats Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the UK.Speaking at the city's Waterfront Hall, she is due to say that any such deal would go against the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to Northern Ireland 20 years ago after decades of conflict.May will say that following the publication of the government's white paper agreed at Chequers, it is "now for the EU to respond".In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.1% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.2% early Friday.The euro was firm against the dollar quoted at USD1.1652 early Friday, from USD1.1605 at the European equities close Thursday.In early economic news, Germany's producer prices climbed at the fastest pace in nine months in June, Destatis reported.Producer prices grew 3% year-on-year in June, faster than the 2.7% increase logged in May. The annual rate matched economists' expectations and was the fastest since September 2017. On a monthly basis, producer prices gained 0.3%, in line with forecast, after climbing 0.5% each in April and May.The economic events calendar on Friday has eurozone current account figures at 0900 BST, and UK public sector borrowing numbers at 0930 BST.In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending down 0.5%, the S&P 500 down 0.4% and Nasdaq Composite closing 0.4% lower.Breaking with longstanding precedent, President Donald Trump offered criticism of the Federal Reserve's current policy of gradually raising interest rates in an interview with CNBC.Trump said in an excerpt of an interview with CNBC's Joe Kernen that aired Thursday that he is "not thrilled" with rate hikes by the Fed."I'm not thrilled," Trump said in the interview set to air in full on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday. "Because we go up and every time you go up they want to raise rates again. I don't really - I am not happy about it."At the same time, Trump noted he is letting the Fed do "what they feel is best," and a subsequent statement from the White House said the president respects the independence of the central bank.In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 2.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.6%.Related Shares:
Sirius MineralsUnileverBeazleySmiths Group