(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 fell only modestly in opening trade on Thursday despite a steep decline on Wall Street overnight, with the mood milder following Wednesday's global recession-driven losses.The FTSE 100 was down 10.04, or 0.1%, at 7,137.84, while the FTSE 250 was up 56.89 points, or 0.3%, at 18,787.94. The AIM All-Share was down 0.1% at 864.12.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.1% at 12,097.88. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 16,717.34, while the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 10,846.06.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were both 0.2% higher in opening trade."Markets look a little steadier at the start of trading today but days like today can be like the good old British weather, sunny in the morning and storms by lunch time. In these markets, I wouldn't be surprised to see a rollercoaster of a day and there's plenty of data coming throughout to provide the catalyst," said Craig Erlam at Oanda.The calmer start in Europe comes despite a sharp sell-off on Wall Street overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending down more 800 points, or 3.1%, the S&P 500 down 2.9% and the Nasdaq Composite down 3.0%."UK retail sales this morning will obviously be of interest, following the contraction in the second quarter, and this will be followed by a whole host of releases from the US later on to really shake things up," said Erlam. "Also expect plenty more on the trade war and yield curves, which means much attention on the president's Twitter account."The economic events calendar on Thursday has UK retail sales at 0930 BST followed by US retail sales at 1330 BST.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended down 1.2%. In China, however, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was trading up 0.7%.Alex Kuptsikevich, analyst at FxPro, noted that while the mood in global markets is downbeat, equities in Shanghai and Hong Kong have moved away from the session's lows. "Thus, there is a very high chance that the markets will recover self-possession, and without any fresh disturbing news, they may well return to cautious buying, offsetting the news about the inversion of the yield curve," said Kuptsikevich.Gathered at the bottom of the FTSE 100 were a number of ex-dividend stocks, with lender Royal Bank of Scotland down 7.4%, Russian steelmaker Evraz down 3.3% and Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and 'B' shares down 1.5% and 1.4% respectively.In addition, RBS was cut by analysts at HSBC to Hold from Buy.The situation was similar in the FTSE 250, with iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo down 3.4%, brick maker Ibstock down 3.3%, and subprime lender Provident Financial down 2.8%.At the top of the FTSE 250 was betting firm firm GVC Holdings, up 4.8% after raising its annual outlook despite turning to an interim loss.Net gaming revenue was up to GBP1.81 billion in the first six months of 2019 from GBP1.13 billion a year ago, though the company swung to a loss of GBP12.3 million from a GBP113.6 million profit a year ago.GVC said it booked GBP224.4 million in pretax costs related to the non-cash amortisation of recent acquisitions. On an underlying basis, pretax profit was up 31% to GBP212.1 million from GBP162.1 million.UK Retail like-for-like net gaming revenue was down 10% in the half, an outcome the group described as "ahead of expectations".With an outperformance in UK Retail, and with Online and European Retail trading in-line with expectations, GVC now expects to deliver full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation within a range of GBP650 million to GBP670 million. In May, the company had said it expected annual Ebitda of around GBP646 million."The group's performance in the first half was extremely pleasing with group proforma [net gaming revenue] 5% ahead. Online momentum remains very strong with proforma NGR 17% ahead, delivering continued market share gains across all major territories," said Chief Executive Kenneth Alexander.On London's junior AIM market, ASOS was down 4.4% after Jefferies cut the online clothing retailer to Underperform from Buy.Elsewhere in the UK, Jeremy Corbyn has challenged opposition parties and Tory rebels to install him as caretaker prime minister until a general election in order to prevent a no-deal Brexit under Boris Johnson.The Labour leader said the administration would be "strictly time-limited" and that he would seek an extension to the Article 50 process to delay the UK leaving the EU past the October 31 deadline.Corbyn asked Westminster's opposition leaders and key Tory rebels to support a no-confidence vote he plans to seek at the "earliest opportunity when we can be confident of success".But the Liberal Democrats dismissed the Labour leader as being the right person to lead a temporary government, while Downing Street criticised him for planning to "overrule the referendum".
UK earnings, trading statements calendar - next 7 days
Thursday 27 July | |
Allianz Technology Trust PLC | Half Year Results |
Airtel Africa PLC | Q1 Results |
Anglo American PLC | Half Year Results |
Antofagasta PLC | Half Year Results |
Beazley PLC | Trading Statement |
Capital & Regional PLC | Half Year Results |
Card Factory PLC | Trading Statement |
Centrica PLC | Half Year Results |
Checkit PLC | Trading Statement |
Drax Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Deliveroo PLC | Half Year Results |
Derwent London PLC | Half Year Results |
DP Eurasia NV | Trading Statement |
Entain PLC | Half Year Results |
Greencoat UK Wind PLC | Half Year Results |
Global Connectivity PLC | Half Year Results |
Hostelworld Group PLC | Half Year Results |
HydrogenOne Capital Growth PLC | Trading Statement |
Lancashire Holdings Ltd | Half Year Results |
Mitchells & Butlers PLC | Trading Statement |
OSB Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Persimmon PLC | Half Year Results |
Redcentric PLC | Full Year Results |
RELX PLC | Half Year Results |
Rentokil Initial PLC | Half Year Results |
Resolute Mining Ltd | Trading Statement |
S&U PLC | Trading Statement |
Sage Group PLC | Trading Statement |
Savills PLC | Half Year Results |
Secure Trust Bank PLC | Half Year Results |
SEGRO PLC | Half Year Results |
Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC | Half Year Results |
Videndum PLC | Half Year Results |
Wheaton Precious Metals Corp | Half Year Results |
Friday 28 July | |
AstraZeneca PLC | Half Year Results |
AIB Group PLC | Half Year Results |
GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd | Trading Statement |
IMI PLC | Half Year Results |
Impellam Group PLC | Half Year Results |
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA | Half Year Results |
Intertek Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd | Half Year Results |
NatWest Group PLC | Half Year Results |
PayPoint PLC | Full Year Results |
PayPoint PLC | Trading Statement |
Rightmove PLC | Half Year Results |
Standard Chartered PLC | Half Year Results |
Taylor Maritime Investments Ltd | Trading Statement |
Vanquis Banking Group PLC | Half Year Results |
YouGov PLC | Trading Statement |
Monday 31 July | |
Bank of Ireland Group PLC | Half Year Results |
GlobalData PLC | Half Year Results |
Hutchmed (China) Ltd | Half Year Results |
Pearson PLC | Half Year Results |
Pod Point Group Holdings PLC | Half Year Results |
Quartix Technologies PLC | Half Year Results |
Ricardo PLC | Trading Statement |
Senior PLC | Half Year Results |
Spectris PLC | Half Year Results |
Tuesday 1 August | |
BP PLC | Half Year Results |
Coats Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Diageo PLC | Full Year Results |
Domino's Pizza Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Filtronic PLC | Full Year Results |
Fresnillo PLC | Half Year Results |
Greggs PLC | Half Year Results |
HSBC Holdings PLC | Half Year Results |
International Personal Finance PLC | Half Year Results |
Keller Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Man Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Metro Bank PLC | Half Year Results |
NWF Group PLC | Full Year Results |
Robert Walters PLC | Half Year Results |
Staffline Group PLC | Half Year Results |
System1 Group PLC | Full Year Results |
Travis Perkins PLC | Half Year Results |
Virgin Wines UK PLC | Trading Statement |
Weir Group PLC | Half Year Results |
XP Power Ltd | Half Year Results |
Wednesday 2 August | |
BAE Systems PLC | Half Year Results |
ConvaTec Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Direct Line Insurance Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Endeavour Mining PLC | Half Year Results |
Ferrexpo PLC | Half Year Results |
Haleon PLC | Half Year Results |
Genel Energy PLC | Half Year Results |
Ibstock PLC | Half Year Results |
IP Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Kerry Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Permanent TSB Group Holdings PLC | Half Year Results |
Smurfit Kappa Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Spirent Communications PLC | Half Year Results |
Taylor Wimpey PLC | Half Year Results |
TheWorks.co.uk PLC | Full Year Results |
Virgin Money UK PLC | Trading Statement |
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