Hilton Foods Share News (HFG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London were submerged in a sea of red at midday on Tuesday, with just a few islands of green such as FTSE 100 equipment rental firm Ashtead.

European markets faced similar and the US was set to follow suit as well."Trade continues to be at the forefront of people's minds at the minute, be that the risk of a trade war between the world's two largest economies, potential deals between the US and EU as negotiations get underway or the future relationship of two allies after Brexit," said Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam.Erlam added that Tuesday has been a "volatile" day for the pound, which rose following the latest UK jobs data but then dropped shortly after, to then settle in the middle of the range.Ashtead sat atop the FTSE 100 on Tuesday following a strong first quarter, while Associated British Foods continued Monday's slide and BHP Billiton declined following a broker downgrade.The FTSE 100 was down 0.5%, or 38.60 points at 7,240.70 by midday on Tuesday. The FTSE 250 index declined 0.4%, or 85.47 points, to 20,174.36 and the AIM All-Share down 0.2% at 1,096.76.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 12,262.90 and the Cboe UK 250 down 0.3% at 18,347.79. But the Cboe UK Small Companies up 0.1% at 12,152.38.The Office for National Statistics on Tuesday showed the UK unemployment rate in the three months to July held steady at the lowest since 1975, 4%, as average earnings including bonuses grew by 2.6%, accelerating from last month's reading of 2.4%.The pound was quoted at USD1.3033 at midday - having spiked to an intraday high of USD1.3082 following the jobs report before dropping to a low of USD1.2990 - though still firm compared to USD1.3022 late Monday."The plunge in the pound shortly after has got people more interested though as there doesn't appear to have been much of a trigger, despite the currency slipping from close to USD1.31 against the dollar to briefly below USD1.30. It has since stabilised somewhere in the middle which suggests there may be something to the move even if the initial drop may have been overdone. If no news surfaces, it will be interesting to see whether the pound regains the lost ground over the course of the rest of the session," said Erlam.In the eurozone, employment increased at a steady pace in the second quarter.Employment increased 0.4% sequentially in the three months to the end of June, figures from Eurostat showed, the same rate as seen in the first quarter. The annual growth also remained unchanged, at 1.5%.Among member states, Estonia, Poland, Cyprus and Luxembourg reported the highest increases compared with the previous quarter. Meanwhile, a decrease was observed in Latvia, Portugal, Romania and Bulgaria.The euro was quoted at USD1.1588 at midday, down from USD1.1604 late Monday.In equities, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were down 0.2% and 0.5% respectively at midday.Following falls in Europe, markets in the US are called to open Tuesday's session lower. The Dow Jones is seen down 0.3%, while the S&P 500 is set to slide 0.2% and the Nasdaq down 0.3%.To come in the US calendar is the Redbook index at 1355 BST and wholesale inventories at 1500 BST.Remaining at the top of the FTSE 100 on Tuesday at midday was equipment rental firm Ashtead, up 3.7%.The equipment rental company said revenue for the three months to the end of July rose 22% to GBP1.05 billion from GBP880.1 million reported a year earlier, boosting pretax profit 23% to GBP274.4 million from GBP228.9 million.Ashtead said its business is performing well in "supportive" end-markets as the company viewed the medium-term "with confidence". Looking to the remainder of the year, Ashtead said a weaker pound is expected to boost its results ahead of management expectations.In addition, Ashtead increased its share buyback programme to GBP125 million per quarter. With GBP300 million having been returned thus far since the programme was announced in December 2017, the buyback is now expected to result in a total outlay of GBP675 million."As the US economy leaves others far behind, it is no surprise to see Ashtead reporting yet more good news. And with hurricanes on the way the firm may well see further demand in the months to come," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.The update from Ashtead comes as millions of Americans are preparing for what could become one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to hit the Eastern Seaboard in decades, with mandatory evacuations already issued for parts of three East Coast states.Hurricane Florence, carrying winds of up to 140 mph as a Category 4 storm, is expected to strengthen and possibly become a Category 5 storm on Tuesday.It is then forecast to close in on North or South Carolina on Thursday, hitting a stretch of coastline that is vulnerable to rising sea levels due to climate change.While Ashtead stands to capitalise on the clean-up required as hurricane season starts, London-listed insurers were lower on Tuesday. Lancashire Holdings was down 3.6%, while Hiscox was down 2.3%.Towards the bottom end of the blue-chip index was miner BHP Billiton, down 2.1% after Deutsche Bank downgraded the Australia-headquartered firm to Hold from Buy.Associated British Foods was down 1.8%, continuing its slide from Monday as its pre-close trading update showed like-for-like sales at low-cost fashion chain Primark fell 2% over its financial year.Hilton Food Group gained 3.0% to be the biggest gainer in the FTSE 250 at midday as it posted a strong rise in profit over the first half of its financial year.For the 28 weeks to July 15, the food packaging firm said pretax profit grew 14% to GBP21.0 million from GBP18.4 million a year ago. This was as revenue jumped by 25% to GBP863.6 million from GBP690.7 million. Sanne Group was up 1.9% as it expressed a confident outlook despite profit falling in the first half of the year.The administration services provider said pretax profit declined 13% to GBP10.9 million in the six months to June 30 compared to GBP12.5 million reported for the same period a year ago, despite revenue jumping by 17% to GBP65.9 million from GBP56.3 million.Mauritius has started to grow on a constant currency basis for Sanne, following the integration of Mauritius-based provider of corporate administration services IFS Group. Thus, the group's operating expenses, which include integration costs, rose to GBP29.0 million from GBP22.9 million the year prior, pushing pretax profit down."These results demonstrate the continuing momentum in our business and the result of the investment we are making to enhance our platforms and capabilities," said Sanne Chief Executive Dean Godwin."We will build on this progress in the second half of the year, given the strong new business pipeline, and remain confident in meeting our expectations for the full year," added Godwin.JD Wetherspoon advanced 1.3% after Berenberg upgraded the pub chain to Buy from Hold.