Centrica Share News (CNA)

(Alliance News) - Though the FTSE 100 was not able to maintain its early gains on Tuesday, the blue-chip index still managed to escape the more bruising losses seen elsewhere in Europe thanks to a weaker pound.The FTSE 100 index closed down 39.84 points, or 0.5%, at 7,646.77. The FTSE 250 ended down 111.88 points, or 0.6%, at 19,774.82, and the AIM All-Share closed up 2.44 points, or 0.3%, at 932.36.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.5% at 12,980.18, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.7% at 17,626.75, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.6% at 11,032.62.In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 1.6% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended dived 2.2%.Stocks in New York were lower at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones down 0.1%, the S&P 500 index down 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite sliding 0.3%."Despite the positive open the FTSE succumbed to the negative mood in the rest of Europe and on Nasdaq later in the day, on a mixture of concerns over the Fed rate cuts, US-China trade talks and in reaction to two major fallers that have weighed down the index," said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index.Market focus is set firmly on the US Federal Reserve, which announces its latest monetary policy decision at 1900 BST on Wednesday. A 25 basis point rate cut is seen as practically a done deal by traders.Causing a headache for the US central bank before Wednesday's move, President Donald Trump called on the Fed to cut the benchmark interest rate significantly."I would like to see a large cut," Trump told reporters at the White House, adding that he also wanted an end to the Fed's policy of quantitative tightening."I'm very disappointed in the Fed," he added.Turning his ire elsewhere, Trump ripped into China after US negotiators arrived in Shanghai to resurrect talks aimed at ending a year-long trade war between the world's two top economies.Trump took to Twitter to slam China hours after top US officials landed in the financial hub for the first face-to-face discussions since the US leader agreed to a trade war truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping in June."My team is negotiating with them now, but they always change the deal in the end to their benefit," Trump tweeted. Trump had accused China of reneging on its commitments before previous talks broke down in May.This time the US leader said Beijing was supposed to start buying US agricultural products but they have shown "no signs that they are doing so". Trump's Twitter tirade will reinforce already low expectations that this week's negotiations will lead to a major breakthrough.Though the FTSE 100 fell on Tuesday amid pre-Fed jitters and trade war woes, it avoided the sharper losses of mainland Europe largely thanks to a weakened pound on no-deal Brexit jitters.Sterling was quoted at USD1.2150 at the London equities close Tuesday, trading at its worst levels in over two years, compared to USD1.2224 at the close on Monday.Boris Johnson has clashed with his Irish counterpart over the backstop in their first phone call since the Tory MP became prime minister. Number 10's account of the call said Johnson warned that the UK will be leaving the EU by the October 31 deadline "no matter what".The euro, meanwhile, firmed to stand at USD1.1146 at the European equities close Tuesday, against USD1.1131 at the same time on Monday.In London, oil major BP ended at the top of the FTSE 100, gaining 3.6% on a solid set of quarterly results.Underlying replacement cost profit, BP's preferred metric, for the three months to June rose 19% on the first quarter to USD2.81 billion, though it was 0.4% lower year-on-year.BP's underlying RC profit for the six months to June was USD5.17 billion, down 4.4% on the year before. Reported RC profit fell 7.4% to USD3.87 billion in the half year, while interim profit attributable to shareholders declined 9.7% to USD4.76 billion.As well as its results, BP got a small boost from a higher oil price.Brent oil was quoted at USD64.03 a barrel at the London equities close Tuesday, up from USD63.32 late Monday."Oil prices have been largely side-lined today ahead of tomorrow's Fed rate decision. They are slightly higher on the day, buoyed to some extent by the hopes for progress, as US, China trade talks restart, but even here expectations are tempered by the fact that a deal remains a long way away, and economic data in Europe still looks weak," said Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.This soft environment in Europe was reinforced by data from the European Commission earlier on Tuesday showing economic sentiment softened in the eurozone in July, largely caused by the industrial and construction sectors.The Economic Sentiment Indicator declined by 0.6 of a point to 102.7 points in the euro area, while in the wider EU it was down 0.3 of a point to 102.0.Turning back to commodities, gold was quoted at USD1,427.63 an ounce at the London equities close Tuesday, up against USD1,419.44 at the close on Monday.This was unable to help out gold miner Fresnillo, however, which sank 17% after the FTSE 100 constituent unveiled a sharp dividend cut.Fresnillo's revenue for the six months to June declined 10% to USD1.00 billion, with pretax profit from continuing operations dropping dramatically to USD54.1 million from USD323.0 million a year before. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation fell 46% to USD307.9 million.The worsened results were due to a 7.1% fall in gold production to 432,417 ounces in the half-year, and a 10% dip in silver output to 27.6 million ounces, which had been reported earlier in July.In response, Fresnillo slashed its interim dividend by 76%, to USD0.026 per share from USD0.107 a year before. The title of biggest blue-chip loser on Tuesday went to Centrica, the British Gas parent tumbling 18% as investors gave a frosty response to news of a radical dividend cut.For the six months ended June, the FTSE 100-listed utility sank to a GBP569 million pretax loss from a GBP415 million profit a year prior. This was after revenue fell 4.4% to GBP11.57 billion from GBP12.10 billion the year before.Compounding the disappointing results, Centrica more than halved its interim dividend per share to 1.50 pence from 3.60 pence the year prior.Further, for the full year, Centrica has rebased its payout to 5.0p per share from the 12.0p paid the year before, with the cut attributed to changes regarding the UK default tariff price cap, additional pension deficit contributions and restructuring charges.British Airways operator International Consolidated Airlines dipped 5.4% in a negative read-across from German flag carrier Lufthansa.Lufthansa closed down 6.3% in Frankfurt, contributing to the DAX's tough session, after reporting a sharp decline in second quarter profit amid competition struggles.The airline's key financial target, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, was down year on year to EUR754 million. This represents a 25% decline from EUR1.00 billion the year before. Despite the slip, the adjusted Ebit result was still ahead of market consensus of EUR735 million."Our earnings are feeling the effects of tough competition in Europe and sizeable overcapacities, especially on our short-haul routes out of Germany and Austria," said Chief Financial Officer Ulrik Svensson. Among other London-listed airline operators, easyJet shed 5.2% and Ryanair closed down 4.0%.FTSE 250-listed Provident Financial closed up 5.3% after the subprime lender brought back its dividend despite the distraction of a hostile bid from Non-Standard Finance.Doorstep lender NSF's hostile GBP1.1 billion takeover bid for peer Provident collapsed in June after the UK Prudential Regulation Authority blocked the deal.Provident's pretax profit, and before bid defence costs, rose 77% year-on-year to GBP61.2 million for the six months to June 30, with the statutory figure was up 8.8% to GBP37.6 million. Adjusted pretax profit was flat at GBP74.9 million. This "continued good recovery" means Provident has been able to reintroduce its interim dividend, and it is paying 9.0 pence per share for the period. The interim payout was scrapped in the summer of 2017. Meanwhile, CYBG slumped 9.5% as the lender said its net interest margin will be towards the bottom of its guided range.For the three months to June 30, CYBG - which last year merged with Virgin Money - reported a small decline in net mortgage lending of 0.2% to GBP60.4 billion. In the year-to-date, net mortgage lending growth was 3.0%.Net interest margin of 168 basis points for the nine months to the end of June was 3 points lower compared to the six months to the end of March due to the re-financing impact of a large volume of mortgage redemptions in the third quarter, the company explained. Further, CYBG said its annual net interest margin is expected to be at the lower end of its 165 basis points to 170 basis points guidance range.In the UK corporate calendar on Wednesday, there are interim results from lender Lloyds Banking Group, packaging firm Smurfit Kappa, takeaway platform and takeover target Just Eat, defence firm BAE Systems, Russian steelmaker Evraz and wealth management firm St James's Place. In addition, miner Glencore releases half-year production figures and clothing retailer Next a trading statement.Aside from the Fed on Wednesday, there is the British Retail Consortium Shop Price Index at 0001 BST, with the UK Gfk consumer confidence index also out at the same time. In China, a manufacturing PMI is out at 0200 BST and back in the UK, Nationwide housing prices are at 0700 BST. In Europe later in the morning, German unemployment is at 0855 BST and eurozone GDP is at 1000 BST.London Close is available to subscribers as an email newsletter. 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