22nd Aug 2018 08:39
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks opened broadly lower in London on Wednesday with investors unnerved by legal troubles surrounding US President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and one-time campaign manager.With little in the economic calendar on Wednesday, focus lies on the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium beginning on Thursday, and lower-level trade talks between the US and China.The FTSE 100 was down 0.3%, or 25.44 points, at 7,540.26 early Wednesday. The FTSE 250 index was broadly flat, just 9.71 points lower at 20,633.15, while the AIM All-Share was also flat at 1,082.41.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 12,774.49, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 18,730.36, but the Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.1% at 12,262.72.The broadly negative open comes "in spite of very bullish market sentiment in the United States, where S&P 500 renewed record highs and is poised to extend the longest ever Wall St bull rally", said Artjom Hatsaturjants at Accendo Markets "Despite the positive lead from Wall St, Asian bourses are more mixed, with markets wary of geopolitical shake-ups in the aftermath of Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen pleading guilty to campaign finance violations and indirectly implicating his former boss," the Accendo analyst continued.Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen admitted to committing campaign finance violations in a federal courtroom in New York. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts, including making two payoffs with the intention of influencing an election.Additionally, a jury found one-time Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort guilty of eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud, in the first trial to result from special counsel Robert Mueller's FBI investigation.In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended higher with the S&P 500 hitting a new record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.3%, the S&P 500 up 0.2% - having hit a record high of 2,873.23 during Tuesday's session - and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 0.5%.Also in focus on Wednesday are lower-level trade talks between the US and China.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.5% in late trade.Subprime lender Provident Financial was sat atop the FTSE 250, up 3.3% after Berenberg raised its rating on the stock to Hold from Sell.In second placed was Grafton Group, 2.7% higher as it bumped up its interim payout following a rise in profit.The builders merchant business said pretax profit for the six months to June 30 climbed 18% to GBP87.6 million from GBP74.1 million in the same period a year ago. The company's revenue rose 9% to GBP1.45 billion from GBP1.34 billion a year prior.Looking ahead, the company said conditions in the UK merchanting market are expected to remain "relatively flat" over the remainder of the year with competitive pricing pressure.The outlook for its Irish operations remains "positive" with "relatively strong growth forecast for the year", while prospects for the Netherlands market are "favourable" and the Belgian unit continues to focus on improving performance.Elsewhere on the Main Market, cybersecurity firm Avast gained 2.6% after the company said said it saw a "good" first half performance with its full-year expectations unchanged, except for a slightly improvement to its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin guidance.Revenue grew to USD388.6 million from USD294.0 million, as the company swung to an interim pretax profit of USD75.4 million from a USD45.8 million loss a year before. The company's adjusted Ebitda margin came in at 55.1%, up 258 basis points."I'm pleased to report our first set of results since our IPO earlier this year that indicate the Group is performing strongly with sustained high growth, in line with market expectations, and with slightly higher Ebitda levels," said Chief Executive Vincent Steckler.He continued: "Looking ahead, we are confident that we can continue to execute the strategy we outlined at IPO and we are on track to deliver on full year guidance of high single digit revenue growth, with slight Ebitda margin improvement."In the economic calendar on Wednesday, US MBA mortgage applications are at 1200 BST while existing home sales are at 1500 BST and Federal Open Market Committee minutes released at 1900 BST."The FOMC Minutes are likely to provide the day's main talking point. Unfortunately for President Trump, there are unlikely to be any hints over looser monetary policy, despite his complaints, but they may shed some light on the Committee's debate around where the neutral rate lies. This will be viewed as a precursor to Jackson Hole," said analysts at Societe Generale.Jackson Hole, an annual gathering of central bankers in the US state of Wyoming, begins on Thursday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is slated to speak on Friday.Related Shares:
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