24th Sep 2014 09:29
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK indices continue to trade lower Wednesday while German business confidence weakened for the fifth straight month in September.
At mid-morning the FTSE 100 is trading down 0.2% at 6,664.22, the FTSE 250 is down 0.4% at 15,472.62, while the AIM All-Share index is 0.4% lower at 753.36.
The IFO business climate index for Germany fell more than expected to 104.7 in September, fuelling more investor worries about the eurozone. Economists had forecast the indicator to drop to 105.8 from 106.3 in August. The current situation index came in slightly ahead of expectation at 110.5, down from 111.1 a month ago. The expected score for September was 110.2. At the same time, the economic expectations index slid to 99.3 from 101.7 in August and behind the consensus of 101.2.
"German IFO data was weaker once again, and while some of this is down to the Ukraine situation, the ongoing leaking of the periphery?s problems into the eurozone?s core nations is not going to help matters," says IG market analyst Chris Beauchamp.
Major European equity markets are performing marginally better than London, with the French CAC 40 up 0.2% and the German DAX down 0.2%.
On the London stock exchange, Fresnillo is the best performing stock on the blue-chip index after UBS added it to its Most Preferred List. The company's shares are up 3.8%.
United Utilities is also amongst the top gainers in the FTSE 100 after it said it is currently trading in line with internal expectations for the six months ending September 30, while it remains confident of delivering its 2010-15 regulatory outperformance targets. In a trading statement, United Utilities said underlying operating profit for the first half 2014/15 is expected to be similar to the first half of 2013/14. The company's shares trade 1.6% higher.
In the FTSE 250, metals miner Kazakhmys is performing well with its shares up 1.9%. The company said it has awarded the contract to build a sulphide concentrator at Aktogay, the company's second major copper growth project, to Non Ferrous China, allowing it to firm up the expected total capital cost of the project. The sulphide concentrator contract is the largest item in the capital expenditure budget for Aktogay, and Kazakhmys said that it is now able to confirm that the total capital cost for the project is expected to be in the region of USD2.3 billion.
Still ahead on Wednesday is the US MBA mortgage applications for the week ending September 19 to be released at 1200 BST and US new home sales change for August at 1500 BST.
Futures indicate the three main US indices to open just fractionally higher.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]
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KAZ.LFresnilloUnited Utilities