LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended mixed on Tuesday with a surge in oil prices a boon for heavyweight oil majors in the FTSE 100, but conversely sent airlines lower. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.7%, or 49.15 points at 7,507.56. The FTSE 250 ended down 0.1%, or 27.01 points, at 20,461.06, and the AIM All-Share closed flat or 0.35 points lower, at 1,097.11.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.6% at 12,734.16, the Cboe 250 closed down 0.2% at 18,598.14, and the Cboe Small Companies ended 0.3% higher at 12,227.61."The FTSE 100 is the standout performer in Europe thanks to the benchmark's relatively high exposure to energy and mining stocks. Royal Dutch Shell and BP have helped the British index due to the rally in the underling oil market," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets.On the London Stock Exchange,
Next ended as the best blue chip performer, up 7.7% after the clothing and homewares retailer raised its annual profit guidance after sales growth beat expectations in the first half of its financial year, attributing its success to warmer weather.Next said pretax profit improved slightly to GBP311.1 million in the six months to July 28 compared to GBP309.4 million reported a year earlier, as revenue climbed to GBP1.96 billion from GBP1.90 billion. First-half full price sales came in 4.5% higher year-on-year, Next said, which was ahead of the 1.0% annual growth guidance given in January and the 2.2% growth forecast issued in May. The company now expects 3.0% year-on-year growth in full price sales for its current financial year. As a result, the company raised its guidance for full-year pretax profit by GBP10.0 million to GBP727.0 million. The year before, annual pretax profit totalled GBP726.1 millionAlthough, Next said the UK retail market is "volatile" and remains "cautious" in its outlook while pointing to the risks over Brexit, namely on higher tariffs on goods imported into the UK."Next deserves credit for presenting investors with a clear and insightful picture of its business in this set of results. The retailer has shown itself to be a resilient, well-managed company through a difficult period for the sector. Next isn't immune to the problems besetting the high street, but it's doing the right things to ensure it makes it to the other side in decent shape," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Laith Khalaf.
BP and
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and Shell 'B' closed up 2.8%, 2.3% and 2.4% respectively with the oil majors tracking spot oil prices higher.Brent oil was higher quoted at USD82.08 a barrel at the London equities close from USD81.20 at the close Monday. The North Sea benchmark hit an intraday high of USD82.17 a barrel in morning trade - its highest level since late 2014. Brent extended gains from the previous session amid US sanctions to hit Iran exports in November and as major oil producing nations indicated that they were in no rush to increase output.The US has been asking governments and companies around the world to fall in line and cut their oil imports from Iran.Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump warned European nations not to be dependent on Russian energy in his speech at the UN."Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course," he said, while praising Poland for developing alternative pipelines.He also took aim at OPEC saying prices must come down. "We won't put up with these high prices for much longer," Trump warned."OPEC and OPEC nations are as usual ripping off the rest of the world," Trump said. "We defend many of these nations for nothing and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices. Not good".At the other end of the large cap index, airline stocks were the worst performers as the spike in oil prices fuelled concerns over input costs and the impact of higher prices on demand. British Airways parent company
International Consolidated Airlines Group closed down 3.9% and budget airline
easyJet closed down 3.3%. Midcap eastern European-focused airline
Wizz Air ended as the worst performer, down 4.7%.In the FTSE 250,
Card Factory closed down 3.9% after the greeting card retailer said revenue and profit rose in the first half, but like-for-like sales slipped a little amid a weak UK consumer environment. Card Factory said pretax profit grew 17% in the six months to the end of July to GBP27.2 million from GBP23.2 million reported a year ago, as revenue increased by 3.2% to GBP185.3 million from GBP179.6 million. Card Factory maintained its interim payout at 2.9 pence per share. In addition, it declared a special dividend of 5.0p. On the like-for-like basis, sales fell by 0.2%, impacted by lower high street footfall in a weak consumer environment, the company said. The pound was firm against the dollar quoted at USD1.3155 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.3124 at the close on Monday.IG Group analyst Joshua Mahony attributed this over the possibility that Brexit could be "overturned" under the leadership of the Labour party. At the annual Labour party conference in Liverpool, Keir Starmer, shadow Brexit secretary, was given a standing ovation as he confirmed the possibility of abandoning Brexit could be in any future referendum called on the outcome of the process.Starmer indicated the party was set to vote against Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan when it is put to a vote in the House of Commons and said it should trigger a general election if May was unable to win the approval of Parliament.Pointing to Labour's position for the upcoming showdown in the House of Commons on any deal May brings back from Brussels, Starmer said there was "division, chaos, failure" under her leadership and "the government has no credible plan for Brexit, weeks out from the deadline"."With the conservative party looking increasingly fractured over what type of Brexit would be favoured, the Labour party is looking at this impasse as a potential opportunity to grab power by taking a more pro-EU stance. The question over whether any vote would include a decision to stay in the EU will be crucial in putting to bed the idea of the UK remaining in the EU, yet with negotiations in trouble, a remain vote has a strong likeliness of winning if put to the ballot," Mahony said. In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 0.1%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.2%. The euro was flat at USD1.1769 at the European equities close, against USD1.1766 late Monday. Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, as the US Federal Reserve begins its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday, with the interest rate decision on Wednesday at 1900 BST. The DJIA was up 0.1%, the S&P 500 index 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%.The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by a 25 basis points, although traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.With the probability of a rate hike already priced in, investors will likely focus on the updated rate projections, economic forecasts and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's subsequent press conference - with the central bank expected to raise rates by at least once more this year.In US corporate news, shares in social media platform Facebook are down 1.3% in New York after the co-founders of its photo-sharing app Instagram Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger said they are leaving the company.Systrom, Instagram's chief executive, and Krieger, the chief technical officer, did not give a reason for stepping down, but said they are now "ready for our next chapter".Instagram was created by Systrom and Krieger in 2010. Facebook acquired Instagram in April 2012 for about USD1 billion. The photo-sharing app has more than 1 billion active monthly users.The departure of Instagram's co-founders add to the challenges faced by Facebook, which continues to be tainted by the controversy regarding the misuse of user data.The Menlo Park, California headquartered firm has also been criticized for not being able to prevent foreign interference across its network.Still to come, sportswear giant Nike is set to report earnings after the closing bell. Investors will be eagerly awaiting to see if Nike's decision to use former NFL player Colin Kaepernick for its latest "Just Do It" campaign will bear fruit.Gold was flat quoted at USD1,200.90 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,200.71 late on Monday.The economic events calendar on Wednesday has UK BBA mortgage approval figures at 0930 BST and US new home sales figures at 1500 BST. The UK corporate calendar on Wednesday has half year results from roadside assistance provider AA and online fashion retailer Boohoo Group. There are also trading statements from personal care products maker PZ Cussons and from travel hub food and drink concessions operator SSP Group.
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