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(Alliance News) - It was another timid European open on Friday, as hesitance continued ahead of the trio of central banking announcements next week.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 9.01 points, 0.1%, at 7,462.96. The FTSE 250 was up 26.49 points, 0.1%, at 18,850.50, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.04 points, 0.1%, at 835.45.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 746.45, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.1% at 16,272.29, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.6% at 12,865.02.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.1%.
Provide some market focus for Friday, the US producer price index is due out at 1330 GMT. US factory gate inflation is expected to cool to 7.4% in November from 8.0% in October, according to FXStreet-cited market consensus.
"If this is the case, if the factory gate inflation in the US slowed last month – which would also hint at a potentially slower CPI data next Tuesday before the [Federal Open Markets Committee] decision – we could see the risk assets shrug off some of this week's weakness," Swissquote Bank analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said.
However, a hotter-than-expected reading is likely to spook investors and extinguish hopes that peak US inflation has passed. The Federal Reserve will be keeping a close eye on the reading, ahead of two-day policy meeting starting on Tuesday, with the interest rate decision to be announced on Wednesday. Also on Tuesday next week is the US consumer price index for November.
The Bank of England and European Central Bank follow with rate decisions of their own on Thursday
In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.6%, the S&P 500 up 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.1%.
In Tokyo on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite added 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was 2.3% higher. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.5%.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2240 early Friday, edging up from USD1.2218 at the London equities close on Thursday. The euro traded at USD1.0568 early Friday, higher than USD1.0547 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY136.38, up versus JPY135.56.
In the UK, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt launched a raft of major reforms to the UK financial sector to replace EU regulation and cut red tape.
The chancellor revealed the shake-up will include a commitment to make "substantial legislative progress" on repealing and replacing the Solvency II directive next year, which is expected to unlock more than GBP100 billion of private investment, according to the Treasury.
He also promised to reform the UK prospectus regime to support stock market listings and capital raises, reform rules on real estate investment trusts and review provisions on investment research in the UK.
"London's financial reputation has been severely held back since Brexit, right at a time when the 'powers that be' have tried to encourage investment and growth in a big way," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates.
"Sadly, the allure simply isn't there, with many of the UK's brightest companies being snapped up by overseas investors, and London losing its top share-dealing status."
In Madrid, Banco Santander slipped 0.3%, on news its UK business has been fined GBP107.8 million over "serious and persistent gaps" in its anti-money laundering controls.
The Financial Conduct Authority said business banking customers were affected by anti-money laundering failures.
It said the bank "failed to properly oversee and manage" these systems, which impacted its oversight of more than 560,000 business customers.
"In all truth, this development is unlikely to change the story for Santander too much, but it will have worn down customers', and the regulator's patience, meaning any further breaches are unlikely to go down well," said HL's Sophie Lund Yates.
Among London large caps, Berkeley Group rose 0.6%.
In the half year ended October 31, the Surrey-based housebuilder said pretax profit slid 2.0% to GBP284.8 million from GBP290.7 million a year before. Revenue fell 1.6% to GBP1.20 billion from GBP1.22 billion. The firm left guidance for its full year unchanged, expecting profit of around GBP600 million.
"Berkeley is battening down the hatches in view of a tightening economic environment, but remains supported by its exposure to London and the South East," considered interactive investor's Richard Hunter.
"Despite the increase economic pressures, which have heightened over the last five weeks or so, the numbers for the half-year have held up reasonably well," he added.
Associated British Foods, owner of the Primark discount fashion store chain, shed 0.8%, as reiterated its annual outlook.
AB Foods still expects significant sales growth, but adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share to be lower than the previous financial year.
Chair Michael McLintock to the company's annual general meeting he expects "further significant" input cost inflation, but said the volatility of input costs has "diminished".
AB Foods expects the aggregate profit of its Food businesses to be higher than last financial year. Primark trading has been encouraging, he noted, and ABF is on track to open 27 new Primark stores in the year - 10 of these in the run-up to Christmas, with 6 already opened.
Glencore lost 0.5%.
The Anglo-Swiss commodity trading and mining company has scrapped plans for a huge coal mine in the Australian state of Queensland.
Mining at the Valeria open pit mine, which would have produced up to 20 million tonnes of thermal and metallurgical coal annually for 37 years, was due to begin in 2024. Glencore cited global uncertainties for the decision to abandon the project as well as the Queensland government's decision to increase royalties on coal.
Among London small-caps, ProCook plunged 19%.
The kitchenware retailer said sales in recent weeks have been weaker than anticipated, as consumer demand softens due to the cost-of-living crisis in the UK.
It now expects revenue for its full year to be between GBP60 million to GBP65 million, and underlying profit before tax to be approximately breakeven.
This is due to "the combination of the continued softer year-on-year sales performance and heightened costs due to shipping and foreign exchange impacts, additional marketing and promotional activity, and investing in our operational teams to serve higher volumes", ProCook explained.
It expects gross margins to recover in the next financial year, aided by lower shipping costs in new product intake and company plans to cut operating costs by GBP3 million on an annualised basis.
Gold was quoted at USD1,791.80 an ounce early Friday, higher than USD1,787.73 late on Thursday, while Brent oil was unchanged at USD76.38.
By Elizabeth Winter, senior markets reporter
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