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LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks opened mixed on Thursday as President Donald Trump appeared to take aim yet again at China, this time by attempting to block tech firm Huawei from the US telecommunications equipment market.Weighing on the FTSE 100 were a number of ex-dividend stocks - including Royal Dutch Shell, the largest London-listed company by market capitalisation - and a lukewarm reception to Burberry's annual results. The FTSE 250, meanwhile, was helped by a double-digit percentage gain for Sophos. The FTSE 100 was down 22.25 points, or 0.3%, at 7,274.70 on Thursday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 33.47 points, or 0.2% at 19,403.24. The AIM All-Share was up 0.1% at 958.40.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.3% at 12,331.91. The Cboe UK 250 was flat at 17,444.39, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 11,778.01.In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were both down 0.3%. In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended down 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite finished up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.3%.The largely subdued open in London on Thursday comes after US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency aimed at protecting US communication networks. The executive order declares a national economic emergency that empowers the US government to ban the technology and services of "foreign adversaries" deemed to pose "unacceptable risks" to national security - including from cyberespionage and sabotage.While it does not name specific countries or companies, it follows months of US pressure on Huawei. It gives the Commerce Department 150 days to come up with regulations.This latest move from Trump comes after the US just last week increased tariffs to 25% on USD200 billion worth of Chinese products, and the president said he is looking "very strongly" at imposing another round that would affect USD325 billion worth of Chinese goods.Fashion house Burberry - for which the Chinese market is crucial - was weighing on the FTSE 100 in early trade, down 3.3% after adjusted profit missed analyst expectations. For the financial year that ended March 30, the retailer, known for its checked print and trench coats, posted pretax profit of GBP440.6 million, compared to GBP412.6 million a year ago. This was achieved on the back of lower operating expenses, reducing to GBP1.42 billion from GBP1.49 billion.Revenue met analyst expectations, coming in broadly flat at GBP2.72 billion from GBP2.73 billion. Comparable retail store sales also met analyst forecasts, rising 2% in the full-year.However, adjusted operating profit lagged behind market consensus, coming in at GBP438 million, down 6% year-on-year from GBP4667 million. Analysts had seen this registering at GBP442 million.Joining Burberry to bring up the rear of the index were ex-dividend stocks such as Intertek, Royal Dutch Shell and HSBC. Intertek shares were down 1.4%, Shell 'A' and 'B' shares both down 1.1%, and HSBC 1.2% lower. Spirax-Sarco Engineering was the top performer in the blue-chip index, up 1.8% after Berenberg initiated the valves and pumps maker with a Buy rating. Rising in the FTSE 250 was Sophos, up 16% as the cybersecurity software firm achieved revenue growth and a swing to profit despite a "challenging" year.Total revenue for the year to March 31 was up 11% to USD711 million, with subscription revenue up 16% but billings down 1.1%. Sophos swung to a pretax profit of USD53.6 million from a loss of USD41.0 million the year before.Sophos declared a final dividend of 3.7 cents, bringing the total payout for the year to 5.2 cents, up 6% year-on-year."Despite the challenges we faced in FY19, we are pleased with the strategic progress we made during the year. The demand environment for cybersecurity solutions continues to be robust, and we are confident that we are well positioned competitively," said Chief Executive Kris Hagerman.Elsewhere on the Main Market, Thomas Cook shares dived 19% as the travel agent reported a widened interim loss and warned on challenging summer trading.Revenue for the half to March 31 was down to GBP3.02 billion from GBP3.23 billion. The company's pretax loss widened to GBP1.46 billion from just GBP303 million a year ago.As well as the lower revenue, a GBP1.1 billion impairment charge recognised in respect of goodwill and brand names associated with the UK Tour Operator cash-generating unit dented profit.The company's underlying gross margin in the half was 19.8%, 100 basis points lower than 20.8% a year ago."As we look ahead to the remainder of the year, it's clear that, notwithstanding our early decision to mitigate our exposure in the 'lates' market by reducing capacity, the continued competitive pressure resulting from consumer uncertainty is putting further pressure on margins," said Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser."This, combined with higher fuel and hotel costs, is creating further headwinds to our progress over the remainder of the year," he added.As a result, underlying earnings before interest and tax in the second half is expected to be behind that achieved in the same period a year ago. For the first half, the company posted an underlying Ebit loss of GBP245 million.In addition, Thomas Cook said it has received multiple bids for all or part of its airline.The economic events calendar on Thursday has Italy inflation readings at 0900 BST, eurozone trade figures at 1000 BST and US housing starts at 1330 BST.In the UK, Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a showdown meeting with senior Tories demanding she sets a firm resignation date.May is holding talks with members of the executive of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs on Thursday as the clamour for her to make clear when she will exit Number 10 grows.The meeting with the Tory grandees comes after May announced the Withdrawal Agreement Bill will be brought to the House of Commons, for a fourth time, in early June.The pound was quoted at USD1.2823 early Thursday, down from USD1.2866 late Wednesday.
22 Dec 2023 01:34
