EQN.L Share News (EQN)

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended the week in red as escalating US-China trade tensions kept investors on the back foot.The FTSE 100 index closed 177.81 points lower, or 2.3%, at 7,407.06. This put the index 1.7% lower for the week.The mid-cap FTSE 250 index ended down 381.14 points, or 1.9%, at 19,253.17, while the AIM All-Share was 1.1% lower at 921.34.The Cboe UK 100 index finished 2.3% lower at 12,550.78. The Cboe UK 250 closed 1.6% lower 17,197.68, while the Cboe UK Small Companies closed down 0.3% at 11,026.68."It's been another bad day for European markets with the FTSE 100 down for the fourth day in succession, while the rest of Europe has also posted large weekly losses, after President Trump threw all the trade chess pieces up into the air, by announcing that he intended to implement a 10% tariff on the remaining USD300 billion worth of Chinese goods, from September," said CMC Markets UK Chief Market Analyst Michael Hewson.Trump jolted US and Asian stock markets on Thursday as he issued the threat just a day after US and Chinese trade negotiators revived talks aimed at ending the year-long dispute.Stocks in New York were in the red at the London equities close, with the DJIA and the S&P 500 index down 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively, and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.8%.In US economic news, the total US non-farm payroll employment and the unemployment rate were in line with expectations in July, a report from Bureau of Labor Statistics showed.Non-farm payroll employment increased by 164,000 in July, compared to a downwardly revised increase of 193,000 in June.According to FXStreet, economists were expecting US nonfarm payrolls to increase by 164,000 in July, down from 224,000 in the initial estimate for June.Also, the US Census Bureau and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that the goods and services deficit stood at USD55.2 billion in June, compared to a downwardly revised USD55.3 billion in May. The goods and services deficit was originally reported at USD55.5 billion.In June, exports were USD206.3 billion, USD4.4 billion less than in May. Imports were USD261.5 billion, USD4.6 billion less than the previous month.The June decline in the goods and services deficit reflected a decrease in the goods deficit of USD800 million to USD75.1 billion and a USD600 million decrease in the services surplus to USD20.0 billion.The falling exports and deteriorating trade picture comes as Trump intensifies his trade war with China, and Beijing vows to retaliate, which economists say is helping to weaken global growth and international commerce.The pound was quoted at USD1.2122 at the London equities close, down from USD1.2141 at the close Thursday. President Trump and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson discussed issues including trade, 5G and global security in their latest phone call, according to the White House.The two men are expected to meet later this month at the G7 gathering of world leaders in Biarritz, France. It was the second call between the two leaders in the space of a week.The mention of 5G in the call comes after the UK government postponed a decision on Chinese firm Huawei's involvement in the infrastructure for the next generation of mobile technology.On the London Stock Exchange, British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group ended as the best performer in the blue-chip index, up 7.6%, after higher passenger revenue offset rising fuel costs and resulted in an increased profit for the first half of 2019.For the six months to June 30, IAG recorded pretax profit of EUR921 million, up 20% from EUR770 million, on revenue of EUR6.77 billion. First half passenger revenue was EUR6.00 billion, up from EUR5.52 billion, while fuel, oil costs and emissions charges increased to EUR1.57 billion from EUR1.33 billion."Despite fuel cost headwinds, we delivered a good performance. At constant currency, fuel unit costs were up 6.3% while passenger unit revenue increased 1.1%, benefiting from the timing of Easter," said IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh.Looking forward, passenger unit revenue - passenger revenue per available seat kilometre - for 2019 is predicted to be flat at constant currency, after improving in the second half of the year. Royal Bank of Scotland Group closed down 6.2%, as a worrying 2020 outlook was dragging the stock lower. The lender reported rise in first half income following the sale of its stake in Saudi Alawwal Bank, allowing the lender to pay a 12 pence special dividend.Saudi British Bank in October 2018 finalised an agreement to buy Alawwal Bank for USD5 billion, creating the kingdom's third-largest lender with USD71 billion in assets. The deal was completed in June. RBS held an aggregate 40% equity stake in Alawwal bank. As a result, RBS has declared a 12p special dividend coupled with a 2p ordinary dividend, representing GBP1.7 billion being returned to shareholders.Turning to results, the bank's operating pretax profit for the six months to June end increased 47% to GBP2.69 billion from GBP1.83 billion the year before. Profit attributable to shareholders more than doubled to GBP2.04 billion from GBP888 million. First half total income grew 6.1% to GBP7.12 billion from GBP6.70 billion."None of this has been enough to stop a sharp sell-off after management warned about the outlook, and it became apparent that a lot of the improvement in profits was as a result of the completion of the recent merger with Saudi bank Alawwal," said CMC Markets UK's Hewson.BT Group was also among the fallers, closing down 4.7%. The telecommunications firm reported revenue for the three months to the end of June of GBP5.63 million, which was 0.7% ahead of consensus but 1% below last year's figure of GBP5.72 billion.The group's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization beat estimates by 3.7%, reaching GBP1.96 billion in the first quarter. BT's Consumer and Enterprise divisions recorded a 3% and 5% decline, respectively, while Openreach's adjusted Ebitda was flat in the first quarter.Jefferies highlighted that the consensus beat was "low quality" as BT's adjusted Ebitda performance was helped by 11% growth in the "Other" category, which reflects the release of prior-year bonus accruals.Among mid-caps, Equiniti ended the day as second best performer, 2.4% higher as it boosted its interim dividend after profit tripled amid rising revenue.For the six months ended June, pretax profit tripled to GBP11.6 million from GBP3.7 million the year prior, after revenue rose 8.3% to GBP275.1 million from GBP254.0 million the year before, up 3.2% on an organic basis. Equiniti proposed a 1.95 pence per share interim dividend, up 7.1% from 1.82 pence the year prior.Over the medium term, Equiniti is targeting organic revenue growth of between 3% and 7% per year with "gradual" margin improvement of around 25 basis points per year.For the interim period, Equiniti reported underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin declined to 22.1% from 23.1% the year prior. Essentra closed 4.8% lower as revenue fell 1.3% to GBP506.6 million for the six months ended June from GBP513.1 million the year before. Meanwhile, pretax profit more than doubled to GBP53.1 million from GBP20.8 million the year prior amid gains from recent asset sales. Adjusted pretax profit - excluding one-off costs and amortisation charges - widened to GBP41 million from GBP38 million the year before. "While there is more for us still to do, our first half of 2019 results demonstrate our ability to deliver encouraging financial progress while substantially simplifying our portfolio of businesses," Chief Executive Officer Paul Forman said.The UK corporate calendar on Monday has half-year results from lender HSBC Holdings at 0500 BST, followed by interim results from LED industrial lighting technology firm Dialight, engineering company Senior and aviation services provider BBA Aviation, all at 0700 BST. Turning to commodities, gold was quoted at USD1,445.50 an ounce at the London equities close, sharply higher against USD1,416.70 late Thursday."Gold prices have recovered from their daily lows and look set to close near their weekly highs, as markets tack close to traditional safe haven plays," said CMC Markets UK's Hewson. Brent oil was quoted at USD62.05 a barrel at the London equities close, down from USD63.38 late Thursday. In Paris, the CAC 40 ended down 2.8% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt finished 2.9% lower.Bank of Finland Chief Olli Rehn has withdrawn from the race to be the EU's pick for leading the International Monetary Fund, a French finance ministry official said Friday, leaving just two candidates in contention.Rehn's departure from the vote of EU ministers called by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire leaves just former Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem and Bulgarian Kristalina Georgieva, the current number two at the World Bank, left in the race.Earlier on Friday, as voting for the new IMF chief began, Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno dropped out, and Brexit-bound Britain decided not to field a candidate.The euro stood at USD1.1112 at the European equities close, higher than USD1.1062 late Thursday.The economic events calendar on Monday has a slew of services PMIs, with China at 0245 BST, the Eurozone at 0900 BST, UK at 0930 BST and the US at 1445 BST.