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London open: FTSE indecisive as Berkeley's barks weigh on builders
London stocks resumed their indecisive shift sideway as the week drew to a close, 10 years to the day that JP Morgan originally agreed to buy the stricken Bear Stearns.
After almost half an hour of trading on Friday, the FTSE 100 was down four points but 10 minutes later was up by four at 7,143.50. Asian markets were in the red after a mixed Wall Street session, where the Dow Jones, like the Footsie before it, ended a three-day losing streak but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower.
Sterling was fairly flat, at 1.1331 against the euro and up 0.1% on the dollar at 1.3952.
While there is a little tension in London amid Russian spy drama and Brexit negotiations, the always eventful Trump White House continues to draw the market's attention.
The appointment of former Ronald Reagan adviser Larry Kudlow as the President Donald Trump's economic advisor was seen as a positive by the markets, due to his vocal pro-trade stance and support of a stronger dollar, but last night brought more machinations.
"Asian stocks slipped amid reports of yet more US administration turmoil, with National Security Advisor McMaster supposedly headed towards the White House revolving door and suggestions that special counsel Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump organisation for documents to help with his Russia investigation," said analyst Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets.
"This bolstered an already mixed close on Wall St as the clouds of a trade war continue to gather, strengthening the safe-haven Yen to hamper Japan's Nikkei along with very disappointing industrial production data."
With little from the UK or US, Friday's economic data focus is on the eurozone, where consumer price inflation is expected to have ticked down slightly in February to 1.2% year on year, from 1.3% in January. Month on month inflation is expected to have increased to 0.2% from a particularly disappointing January print of -0.9%. Core inflation is forecast to remain constant at 1%.
This CPI data comes after dovish ECB chief Mario Draghi was seen as responsible for pulling the euro lower earlier in the week, as his concerns over a strong euro and sluggish eurozone inflation weighed on sentiment for the common currency, with Kudlow's history of supporting a stronger dollar also somehow boosting the dollar overnight.
In London corporate news, NEX Group, the company formerly known as Icap, was soaring after it confirmed overnight that it has received a preliminary approach by US giant CME Group regarding a potential acquisition. "Discussions are at an early stage and there can be no certainty that an offer for NEX will be made, nor as to the terms of any offer, if made."
Housebuilder Berkeley Group was a notable faller after it reported a resilient level of house sales over the past four months and was confident enough about the "compelling" fundamentals of the London and South East housing market to maintain profit and dividend guidance, but gave a rather aggressive defence of why it cannot raise its build rate.
Although sales in the second half have been above the level of its business plan, the FTSE 100 housebuilder blamed its inability to increase production beyond this level due to factors outside its control: high transaction costs, the limits on income multiples for mortgage borrowing and prevailing economic uncertainty.
Peers Taylor Wimpey, Barratt, Persimmon, Galliford Try, Crest Nicholson and Bovis were also dragged down by the comments.
Facilities management company Mitie fell 7% after it said it expected full operating profits to be slightly below 2016 after modest growth in sales, as expected. The company said revenue growth should be in the range of 2%-2.5% at around £2.2bn and that it expects to make higher savings by 2020.
JD Wetherspoon fell after announcing like-for-like sales up 6.1%, pre-tax profits up 20.6% and a flat interim dividend. The pub group anticipates higher second half costs and slower like-for like sales growth, but stronger sales in the year so far means the full outlook is unchanged.
William Hill and Ladbrokes Coral, it is being reported in the Financial Times, are being investigated by the FCA for creating a false market in their shares by making public findings of review about possible curbs to fixed odds betting terminals. The pair were said to have promoted a doomsday scenario for betting shops if the government presses ahead with curbs on FOBT machines.
Royal Dutch Shell was higher after agreeing overnight a deal to sell its shares in Shell entities in New Zealand to OMV for US$578m. Shell also agreed with OMV to sell its interest in and operatorship of the Great South Basin venture, which includes a drilling commitment currently estimated to be $50m.
Old Mutual was lower as its break-up continued with an agreement to sell its Latin American businesses for an undisclosed sum. Proceeds from the sale will be retained for general corporate purposes by Old Mutual Emerging Markets, which is now focused on sub-Saharan Africa.
Cobham was down less than a penny after completing the divestment of AvComm and Wireless Test & Measurement businesses for $455m, while National Grid was moderately higher after getting approval for new three-year rate plan and $2.5bn capex for its Niagara Mohawk utility.
Dominos Pizza was flat after it said it was starting a discretionary £32m buyback, the balance of existing £50m programme.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,135.26 -0.06%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,846.25 0.09%
techMARK (TASX) 3,326.02 -0.20%
FTSE 100 - Risers
United Utilities Group (UU.) 699.80p 0.81%
Hammerson (HMSO) 437.50p 0.71%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 703.60p 0.63%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,777.50p 0.62%
Barclays (BARC) 208.05p 0.51%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 258.60p 0.43%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,530.00p 0.43%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,489.50p 0.42%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 391.50p 0.33%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,573.00p 0.33%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,690.00p -5.94%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 182.75p -2.12%
Tesco (TSCO) 209.50p -2.11%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 527.00p -1.75%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,520.00p -1.56%
Kingfisher (KGF) 346.80p -1.00%
GKN (GKN) 426.10p -0.95%
Evraz (EVR) 434.40p -0.94%
DCC (DCC) 6,840.00p -0.87%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,132.50p -0.84%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Nex Group (NXG) 891.00p 32.89%
TP ICAP (TCAP) 495.00p 2.53%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 196.30p 2.51%
Greene King (GNK) 494.00p 2.07%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,126.50p 1.95%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,284.00p 1.90%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,334.13p 1.84%
Renewi (RWI) 89.00p 1.83%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 249.82p 1.72%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 254.00p 1.60%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Mitie Group (MTO) 149.20p -7.44%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 103.60p -5.30%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 974.50p -3.23%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 458.05p -2.21%
Greencore Group (GNC) 126.09p -2.03%
Capita (CPI) 160.10p -1.96%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 1,131.00p -1.78%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,770.00p -1.67%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 354.90p -1.58%
Drax Group (DRX) 276.20p -1.57%