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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK equities traded lower just after the open Wednesday on continuing concerns over China, while chipmaker ARM Holdings was one of the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 as its major customer, Apple, is expected to reduce output of its latest iPhone models.
The Nikkei Asian Review reported on Tuesday that the US technology giant is expected to reduce the output of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus models by around 30% in the January-March quarter compared with its original plans.
The report said inventories of the two models, which launched last September, have piled up at retailers in markets ranging from China and Japan to Europe and the US amid lackluster sales. Customers saw little improvement in performance over the previous generation, while dollar appreciation led to sharp price hikes in emerging markets.
ARM Holdings, which designs semiconductors that are used in Apple's iPhones, traded down 3.1% in London on Wednesday.
The FTSE 100 index was down 1.0% at 6,078.35 points, the FTSE 250 down 0.7% at 17,080.49 and the AIM All-Share down 0.1% at 733.97.
Low oil prices were weighing on London, with Brent reaching a new 11-year low of USD35.49 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate fell to USD35.36.
On Europe stock exchanges, the French CAC 40 was down 0.6% and the German DAX 30 was down 0.7%.
Asian shares ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite index rallied 2.2% on expectations Beijing will extend a six-month ban on big stakeholders selling shares until the introduction of a new rule restricting share sales. The ban was put in place in early July after a sharp downturn in the Chinese stock market.
Other Asian indices closed lower, with the Japanese Nikkei 225 index and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong both ending down 1.0%.
Elsewhere in London, Home Retail Group traded down 6.8% after a 34% rise on Tuesday. The company's share price surged after J Sainsbury confirmed it made an approach in November to buy the Argos and Homebase owner in a cash and shares deal, though it said the approach was rebuffed and it was now considering its position. Home Retail later confirmed it had rejected the offer because it under-valued the company and its long-term prospects.
Sainsbury's ended as the worst performer in the FTSE 100 on Tuesday, down 5.2% but traded up 0.1% early Wednesday.
Card Factory was one of the best performers in the FTSE 250, up 0.5%. The greeting cards and gifts retailer said it has appointed Karen Hubbard as its chief executive designate, with effect from February 22.
The company hired Hubbard from discount retailer B&M European Value Retail SA, where she has been chief operating officer since 2014.
Imaging and 3D technology company DDD Group said it has been granted a new patent in the US covering its TriDef SmartCam.
The new patent, filed in September 2010, covers image processing technology used for model the human body.
Applications under the new patent include removing the background from a photo or video sequence in real-time and other depth-enhanced image effects DDD recently started commercialising using the TriDef SmartCam. DDD traded up 14% after the news.
In the economic calendar, there are a number of Markit services and composite PMI readings from a number of European countries. France is at 0850 GMT, Germany at 0855 GMT and the eurozone as a whole at 0900 GMT. UK services PMI is at 0930 GMT. The eurozone producer price index is at 1000 GMT.
In the afternoon, there are US MBA mortgage applications at 1200 GMT, ADP employment change for December at 1315 GMT and trade balance at 1330 GMT. Markit services and composite PMI readings for the US are at 1445 GMT, before ISM non-manufacturing PMI at 1500 GMT, the same time as factory orders and just before Energy Information Administration crude oil stocks.
At 1900 GMT, after the London close, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its most recent monetary policy meeting in December, at which it raised interest rates for the first time since June 2006.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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