Johnson Matthey Share News (JMAT)

(Alliance News) - London stocks continued their downwards slide on Tuesday, though the FTSE 100 was provided with some cushioning in the form of the pound sinking to its lowest level in over two years.Over in Germany, meanwhile, the DAX slumped amid a profit warning from chemicals firm BASF, which had a knock-on effect in London on the share prices of Croda International, Johnson Matthey and Melrose Industries. The FTSE 100 index closed down 12.80 points, or 0.2%, at 7,536.47. The FTSE 250 ended down 114.10 points, or 0.6%, at 19,467.37, and the AIM All-Share closed down 2.53 points, or 0.3%, at 908.55.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.2% at 12,781.5, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.6% at 17,386.14, and the Cboe Small Companies ended finished 0.3% lower at 11,245.55."Shares across the globe extended their negative start to the week on Tuesday, whilst the dollar rallied and investors looked ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before Congress tomorrow," said Fiona Cincotta at City Index."The FTSE has been faring better than its European counterparts," she added, "thanks to the sinking pound."Sterling was quoted at USD1.2460 at the London equities close Tuesday, down from USD1.2508 at the close on Monday."The pound was offering support to the FTSE. Sterling dropped to its weakest level in two years of USD1.2440 as recession concerns coupled with fears over Brexit are proving too much for pound traders to swallow. And who could blame them?" commented Cincotta. Britain's main opposition Labour party on Tuesday for the first time conditionally backed holding another Brexit referendum, in which it would support remaining in the EU.Labour will now challenge whoever wins the Conservative Party leadership race and becomes prime minister to put any deal they strike with the EU to a referendum, "with remain on the ballot, in which Labour would campaign for remain," the party said in a statement.The move from Labour comes as Tory leadership hopefuls Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt prepare to take part in their only scheduled head-to-head encounter of the campaign. Ballot papers started going out last week to the party's estimated 180,000 members, however, and many will already have voted, meaning that the potential for the debate to alter the course of the contest may be limited.The two contenders to succeed Theresa May as party leader and UK prime minister will appear on a live ITV debate at 8pm on Tuesday.Meanwhile, the euro stood at USD1.1208 at the European equities close Tuesday, against USD1.1215 at the same time on Monday.Stocks in New York were mixed at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones down 0.3%, the S&P 500 index flat and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%. In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 0.3%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended tumbled 0.9%.In Germany, the DAX suffered amid a 3.4% slide for chemicals firm BASF in the wake of a profit warning.For the three months ended June, the chemical firm expects earnings before interest & tax to narrow sharply to EUR500 million from EUR1.9 billion a year prior. Excluding special items, Ebit is forecast to halve to EUR1.0 billion from EUR2.0 billion the year prior."Significantly weaker-than-expected industrial production negatively impacted volumes and margin development at BASF," the company explained in a statement. "At around 1.5% according to current estimates, growth in industrial production in the first half of 2019 was much slower than expected."BASF now forecasts full-year Ebit before special items to be as much as 30% lower than the year prior. Previously, BASF had forecast growth of between 1% and 10%.The warning hit London-listed specialty chemical firms such as Croda International, down 1.4%, and Johnson Matthey, down 0.7%, in a negative read-across. In addition, Melrose Industries slipped 4.2%. "The selloff could stem from a warning from German BASF of an auto slowdown, given that automakers are some of the major customers of Melrose's GKN. However, the selloff looks a little overdone if this is the case," City Index's Cincotta commented on Melrose's tumble. Ending as the worst blue-chip performer, however, was Micro Focus International, dipping 5.2%. The software firm reported a fall in interim revenue, though profit surged on the sale of its SUSE business. For the six months ended April 30, revenue came in at USD1.66 billion, down 7.5% from USD1.79 billion the year before. Profit for the period after tax surged to USD1.40 billion from USD619.7 million the year before, following the sale of its SUSE software business. The company said the SUSE separation and disposal was delivered on schedule resulting in a USD1.7 billion profit on disposal and USD1.8 billion returned to shareholders. Remaining at the top of the FTSE 100 was Ocado Group, advancing 6.5% as it posted growth in fees from its supermarket deals. For the six months ended June 3, Ocado's pretax loss widened dramatically to GBP142.8 million from just GBP13.6 million a year prior. This was despite revenue rising 11% to GBP882.3 million from GBP795.3 million, as retail revenue grew 10% to GBP811.5 million from GBP736.6 million.The firm was hit by GBP100.6 million in exceptional administrative costs during the period. This was largely the write down of property, plant and equipment following a fire at Ocado's Andover warehouse and distribution centre in February.More positively, however, Ocado Solutions revenue was up 21% to GBP70.8 million while fees from licensing deals shot up 36% to GBP122.7 million. Of this, international fees almost doubled to GBP46.7 million.FTSE 250-listed shopping centre owner Intu Properties gained 2.0% on plans to open up to 1,000 new homes next to its Lakeside shopping centre in Essex, eastern England.In a separate announcement, Intu said it has completed the establishment of a joint venture over the Intu Derby shopping centre with Cale Street Investments. The joint venture was first agreed to in April, and will see Cale Street, an investment firm backed by the Kuwait Investment Office, acquire a 50% interest in the site.In the UK corporate calendar on Wednesday, there are trading statements from housebuilder Barratt Developments, recruitment firm PageGroup and pub operator JD Wetherspoon. There are also annual results from struggling clothing retailer Superdry.In the economic calendar, Chinese consumer prices are at 0230 BST followed by UK manufacturing and industrial production, alongside a GDP reading for May, at 0930 BST. Irish inflation is at 1100 BST and US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies in front of Congress at 1500 BST. Later, at 1900 BST, minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting are released.In commodities, Brent oil was quoted at USD63.94 a barrel at the London equities close Tuesday, down from USD64.78 late Monday. Gold, meanwhile, was quoted at USD1,396.50 an ounce at the London equities close Tuesday against USD1,397.26 at the close on Monday.London Close is available to subscribers as an email newsletter. Contact info@alliancenews.com