Greene King Share News (GNK)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London were lower at midday on Friday amid trade concerns with another round of US tariffs on China looming, as investors look ahead to upcoming US unemployment data.The Trump administration could place tariffs on additional USD200 billion worth of Chinese goods on Friday after the end of a public comment period.Sentiment was also soured after US President Donald Trump reportedly told a columnist for The Wall Street Journal that he was "still bothered by the terms of US trade with Japan.""The latest target for Trump appears to be Japan after he acknowledged that relations may sour with them when he tells them how much they need to pay. Months of discussions with the US' NAFTA partners, the EU and China have yet to deliver any results, although they may be close with Mexico and Canada having agreed new terms with the former," said Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam."Should Trump manage to get this over the line prior to the mid-term, it may be enough to convince voters that his globally unpopular approach to re-negotiations is working and the Republicans could reap the benefits," Erlam added.US midterm elections will take place in early November. The FTSE 100 index was down 0.5%, or 39.24 points at 7,279.72. The large cap index fell to an intraday low of 7,268.94 in morning trade- its lowest level since mid-April. The FTSE 250 was down 0.7%, or 143.18 points, at 20,140.31, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.4%, or 3.84 points, at 1,099.97.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 12,331.38, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.6% at 18,313.00, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.4% at 12,168.16.On the London Stock Exchange, DCC was up 1.0% after RBC Capital started coverage on the Irish distribution company with an Outperform rating. The Canadian bank took a bullish stance over DCC's strong operating model, "uninterrupted" dividend growth and consistent cashflow. At the other end of the large cap index, International Consolidated Airlines Group was the worst performer, down 3.2% after its unit British Airways suffered from a 15-day data breach which compromised around 380,000 card payments.British Airways said it was investigating the vast breach "as a matter of urgency", while the UK National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre are also assessing the hack. IAG noted that the stolen data did not include travel or passport details.In the FTSE 250, Greene King was the best performer, up 8.4% after the pub operator and brewer said it sold 3.7 million beer pints during England's seven World Cup matches and like-for-like sales during the team's semi-final match were up 61%.Greene King recorded 2.8% growth in Pub Company same-store sales for the first 18 weeks of its financial year to September 2, ahead of 1.2% overall market growth and driven by good weather, benefits from investments, and the football tournament. Greene King-branded local pubs saw 5.5% growth in like-for-like sales.Ashmore Group was up 2.8% after the emerging markets-focused asset manager increased its assets under management by 26% to USD73.9 billion from USD58.7 billion in the year. This reflected record net inflows for Ashmore of GBP16.9 billion, up 47% from the year before.The pound was firm against the dollar at USD1.2665 at midday, compared to USD1.2934 at the London equities close Thursday. In domestic economic news, UK house prices rose at a marginal pace in August, data from the Lloyds bank subsidiary Halifax and IHS Markit showed.House prices gained 0.1% month-on-month in August, slower than July's 1.2% increase. In three months to August, house prices advanced 3.7% annually after climbing 3.3% in three months to July. On a quarterly basis, house prices climbed 1.9%."While the pace of employment growth has recently slowed, a low unemployment rate and a gradual pickup in wage growth are helping to support household finances," Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax noted.In Paris the CAC 40 was down 0.2%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.4%. The euro was firm against the greenback at USD1.1632 at midday, against USD1.1621 at the European equities close Thursday. The euro area economy expanded as initially estimated in the second quarter, data from Eurostat showed. Gross domestic product climbed 0.4% sequentially, the same rate as seen in the first quarter and in line with preliminary estimate. On a yearly basis, GDP growth eased to 2.1% from 2.4% in the preceding period. The annual rate was revised down from 2.2%. The expenditure-side breakdown of GDP showed that the sequential growth was largely driven by the 1.2% rise in gross fixed capital formation.Elsewhere, Germany's industrial production declined unexpectedly in July, data from Destatis revealed. Industrial production fell 1.1% month-on-month in July, in contrast to a 0.2% rise economists had forecast. Production decreased 0.7% in June. Production in industry excluding energy and construction was down by 1.9% in July. On a yearly basis, industrial production grew 1.1%, but slower than the 2.7% increase seen in June. Economists had forecast a 2.6% rise for July.Stocks in New York were set for a lower open ahead of the US Labor Department's jobs report at 1330 BST, as investor look for potential clues on future interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The DJIA was called down 0.2%, the S&P 500 index down 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.3%.US employment is likely to increase by about 191,000 jobs in August after an increase of 157,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 3.8% from 3.9%.Additionally, average hourly earnings are forecast to remain flat at 2.7%."A September rate hike is seen as being as good as nailed on, but weak salary increases are going to make it very difficult for the Fed to keep hiking rates without stubbing out inflation. Any suggestion that this is indeed going to be the case may knock the dollar but it also stands to bolster equity valuations. We could see more volatility in futures before the opening bell," said Axitrader's James Hughes.