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(Alliance News) - UK shares were mostly lower at midday on Wednesday, though the FTSE 100 only fractionally so, having risen off its worst levels of the morning as concerns eased following Iran's retaliation against the US.
The FTSE 100 index was just 1.04 points lower at 7,572.81 at midday - though having traded as low as 7,524.96 in the morning.
The FTSE 250 was down 165.81 points, or 0.8%, at 21,666.87, and the AIM All-Share was flat at 958.35.
The Cboe UK 100 was flat at 12,831.86, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.6% at 19,605.87, and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.7% at 12,454.42.
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were both 0.1% lower.
"There were some wild swings in the markets overnight after Iran carried out its retaliation for the US attacks last week...However, these moves were subsequently pared, and this has become a recurring theme in recent sessions as the initial knee jerk reaction faded back," said David Cheetham at XTB.
"The rationale for this seems to be that despite the clear escalation in US-Iranian tensions over the past week traders are still of the belief that things won't get as bad as many have feared," said Cheetham.
Iran fired missiles on Wednesday at Iraqi bases housing the US military, officials in Washington and Tehran said, in the first act of the Islamic republic's promised revenge for the US killing of a top Iranian general last week.
The price of gold, having risen above the USD1,600 mark overnight to touch a near seven-year high in the wake of the news, fell back as worries eased on Wednesday. The safe-haven asset was quoted at USD1,576.18 an ounce at midday, still higher than USD1,568.77 at the London equities close on Tuesday.
Brent oil had also fallen back from overnight highs, quoted at USD68.74 a barrel midday Wednesday from USD68.02 late Tuesday.
Stocks in New York were called marginally higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones seen flat but both the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq Composite seen up 0.2%.
In the US on Wednesday there is the ADP employment report at 1315 GMT.
"The ADP's unofficial employment measure for December will be watched ahead of Friday's more closely followed official report. However, the November reading significantly under predicted the official reading so the reliability of the data is questionable," said Lloyds Bank.
Ahead of the US data release, the pound was quoted at USD1.3122, compared to USD1.3118 at the equities close on Tuesday.
The euro stood at USD1.1126 at midday Wednesday, against USD1.1138 late Tuesday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY108.71 compared to JPY108.59 late Tuesday.
In London, the FTSE 100 pared some of its early losses by midday though remained ever so slightly in the red, with NMC Health the worst performer.
Two shareholders have sold off 15% of the company, causing the stock to trade 16% lower at midday.
After the London market close on Tuesday, Credit Suisse said Saeed Mohamed Butti Mohamed Khalfan Al Qebaisi and Khaleefa Butti Omair Yousif Ahmed Al Muhairi were to sell shares worth around USD490 million in NMC. This was to reduce their own debts, Credit Suisse said.
On Wednesday, it confirmed Al Qebaisi and Al Muhairi had sold a combined 31.2 million shares in NMC, a 15% stake. The shares were sold at 1,200 pence each, netting them USD493 million.
In addition, the same two investors sold shares worth around USD72 million in Finablr. The stock was down 17% at midday, despite also saying it has contained a ransomware attack on its Travelex business and is confident no customer data has been stolen.
At the top of the FTSE 100 was Smiths Group, 1.6% higher after Bank of America boosted the engineering firm to Buy from Underperform.
BT Group rose 1.5%, as Openreach welcomed the UK regulator's latest proposals concerning the rollout of fibre networks.
Openreach is the wholly-owned broadband infrastructure subsidiary of FTSE 100-listed BT, though it has its own board to ensure some independence.
Ofcom on Wednesday unveiled four proposals to "supercharge" the expansion of the UK's fibre infrastructure.
"Today's proposals appear to be a big step in the right direction to give clarity and investment certainty," said a spokesperson for Openreach.
"Like the government and Ofcom, we want to upgrade the UK to faster, more reliable full fibre broadband. We're getting on with the job, building to 26,000 premises each week and we remain on track to reach four million homes and businesses by the end of March 2021.
A spate of ratings downgrades saw a number of stocks clustered towards the bottom of the FTSE 250.
Speciality chemicals firm Elementis, down 8.0%, was cut to Hold from Buy by Jefferies, while Spirent Communications, 6.4% lower, was reduced to Sell from Neutral by Goldman Sachs.
Aston Martin was down 6.3% after Kepler Cheuvreux downgraded the luxury car maker to Reduce from Hold following its profit warning on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in London, Sirius Minerals shares soared 34% to 5.51 pence on a potential takeover offer.
FTSE 100-listed miner Anglo American confirmed advanced talks to buy the London-listed potash mine developer, whose project is the Woodsmith polyhalite mine near Whitby in North Yorkshire.
Anglo is offering 5.50 pence per share for Sirius, valuing it at GBP386 million. A year ago the stock traded above 20p and in 2016 shares nearly hit 50p.
The offer represents a 34% premium to Sirius's closing price on Tuesday and a 47% premium to its volume-weighted average price since mid-September, when Sirius embarked on a strategic review of its business.
Anglo American was down 1.2%.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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