Kingfisher Share News (KGF)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Trade was cautious in London early Wednesday ahead of a meeting between the European Commission president and US President Donald Trump, as investors monitor trade tensions.Housebuilders and Kingfisher were among the best performers in the FTSE 100 early Wednesday, though this was offset by losses for Informa and Rio Tinto.At the top of the FTSE 250 was B&M European Value Retail, but this was again offset by Indivior's 23% slump as well as losses for Wizz Air.The FTSE 100 was down 0.2%, or 11.34 points, at 7,697.71 early Wednesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 0.1%, or 21.96 points, at 20,830.91. The AIM All-Share index was flat at 1,093.17.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.4% at 13,040.30, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 18,971.23, while the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 12,393.90.In mainland Europe early Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.3% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was flat."The focus of the day is on the start of the meeting between President Trump and EC President Juncker with Juncker traveling to the US with an aim to deescalate trade tensions," said strategists at ING."Judging by President Trump's latest Twitter comments, one should not look for a major breakthrough. Risks remain tilted to the continuation of the tough rhetoric by the US president, thus keeping the threat of auto tariffs alive," ING added.Trump last month slapped tariffs on steel and aluminium from the EU, which replied with hiked import taxes on USD3 billion worth of US goods - politically targeted products ranging from peanut butter to whiskey and motorcycles.The European Commission said Monday that Juncker was not carrying a concrete trade offer to Washington, but would seek to "de-dramatize any potential tensions around trade".While Juncker travels to Washington, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is to hold a meeting with Michel Barnier in Brussels to continue seeking a UK-EU deal.The meetings come after Theresa May confirmed she had taken personal charge of the negotiations, with Raab "deputising" for her in Brussels.A the bottom of London's FTSE 100 early Wednesday was Rio Tinto, 2.4% lower after RBC Capital Markets cut the stock to Underperform from Sector Perform.Informa fell 2.3% after it said revenue rose 4.6% over the first half of 2018 to GBP957.1 million, though pretax profit fell to GBP120.3 million from GBP148.6 million. Informa booked acquisition & integration costs of GBP52.2 million in the period, up sharply from GBP12.1 million last year due to its takeover of UBM.On an adjusted basis, pretax profit grew 3.3% to GBP264.7 million from GBP256.2 million. The publisher and business events organiser raised its interim dividend by 6.0% to 7.05p from 6.65p.Fresnillo was down 0.6% after tweaking its annual production guidance, seeing higher gold output but lower silver.Silver production in the second quarter of the year was up 5.7% on year, whilst production over the first six months of 2018 was up 9.7% to 30.8 million ounces. This was due to the start up of operations at San Julian JM in July 2017.Gold production in the second quarter was up 4.6%, up 4.4% over the half to 465,000 ounces.Looking to 2018 as a whole, Fresnillo sees total gold production between 900,000 ounces to 930,000 ounces - previously guided between 870,000 ounces and 900,000 ounces - while silver is seen slightly lower, between 64.5 million ounces to 67.5 million ounces, from the previously guided 67 million ounces to 70 million ounces.The biggest riser in the FTSE 100 was B&Q owner Kingfisher, up 2.0% after Citigroup raised the retailer to Neutral from Sell.Housebuilders were also among the best blue-chip performers, with Taylor Wimpey up 1.8% and Barratt Developments up 1.7% after Berenberg initiated both companies with a Buy rating.B&M European Value Retail in the FTSE 250 rose 5.8% after Citigroup raised the retailer to a Buy rating and adding the stock to one of its top sector picks.Indivior sank after its interim results, 23% lower in early trade. The drugmaker said first half net revenue fell 5% to USD524 million, as operating profit dropped 18% to USD200 million.The company said it is still unable to issue new annual guidance - having withdrawn this earlier in July due to the brief market entry of Dr Reddy's Laboratories generic buprenorphine/naloxone sublingual film before a temporary restraining order was granted - with Indivior aiming to provide it no later than its third quarter results.Wizz Air wasn't far behind, down 9.0% after the airline said first quarter pretax profit slipped 14% to EUR52.1 million from EUR60.5 million last year."This was a very solid performance given the absence of high yielding Easter traffic which fell into the end of the last financial year as well as a backdrop of significant challenges caused by European air traffic control issues," said Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi."With these disruptions likely to continue into autumn and on the back of a continued rise in fuel prices in the first quarter the company took the decision to trim its full year growth target from 20% to 18%," Varadi added.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.0% in late trade.The economic events calendar on Wednesday has eurozone money supply data at 0900 BST, UK mortgage approvals figures at 0930 BST and US new home sales numbers at 1500 BST.