Kier Share News (KIE)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London saw a mixed close on Monday despite trade tensions between the US, China and Mexico continuing to heat up, as well as disappointing manufacturing data.The FTSE 100 index closed up 23.09 points, or 0.3%, at 7,184.80. The FTSE 250 ended down 93.08 points, or 0.5%, at 18,877.17, and the AIM All-Share closed 10.25 points lower, or 1.1%, at 949.66.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.4% at 12,184.47, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.7% at 16,957.78, and the Cboe Small Companies ended broadly flat at 11,778.07.In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 0.7%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.6%."It was been an impressive turnaround seeing as the major indices were offside this morning, and traders seem to have shrugged off the negative sentiment. Tensions between the US and China, and the US and Mexico are still high - the highest they have been recently, so today's move might turn out to be a relief rally, as the political standoff continues," said David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets.On Sunday, China published a white paper that said the US should take responsibility for the setback in the US-China trade talks. The paper accused the US of being an untrustworthy negotiator and backtracking on its commitments in trade negotiations."On the trade friction started by the US: if the US wants to talk, we will keep the door open," Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe said during a three-day international security dialogue in Singapore. "If they want to fight, we will fight to the end."The defiant rhetoric from China came following the news last week that a top White House official said that US President Donald Trump was "deadly serious" on imposing tariffs on Mexico.But acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged there are no concrete benchmarks being set to assess whether Mexico was stemming the flow of migrants enough to satisfy the administration.Stocks in New York were mixed at the London equities close. The DJIA was up 0.2%, the S&P 500 index up 0.2% but the Nasdaq Composite 0.4% lower.In the FTSE 100, gold miner Fresnillo closed 3.8% higher, tracking the rising price of the precious metal as the risk-off mood remained.Gold was quoted at USD1.319.00 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,300.10 on Friday.WPP ended up 2.1% after US bank Goldman Sachs raised the advertising firm to Buy from Neutral.Analysts Lisa Yang and Katherine Tait expect to see structural shifts in the Media sector accelerate and drive a greater dispersion in growth, returns and share price performance."We take a more positive view on the Online Classifieds companies as they are set to benefit from additional revenue opportunity and M&A, while we turn more cautious on the Broadcasters as our analysis of structural trends point to accelerating pressure. While we remain cautious on the challenges facing the Agencies, we see some signs of near-term relief as certain large advertisers step up marketing efforts," Yang and Tait said.AstraZeneca closed up 1.9% as the drugmaker announced encouraging results from its Polo trial of Lynparza in pancreatic cancer and from its Pacific trial of Imfinzi in stage-three non-small cell lung cancer.More than twice as many patients taking Lynparza had no disease progression at one year - 34% with Lynparza versus 15% on placebo. After two years, 22% of patients with Lynparza had no progression compared to 15% on placebo.Meanwhile, for Imfinzi, data showed 57% of lung cancer patients who had not had disease progression following concurrent chemoradiation therapy, and who were taking the drug, were alive at three years compared to 44% with the placebo following concurrent chemoradiation therapy.On the other side of the index, ITV was down 2.0% as Goldman Sachs resumed coverage of the media company with a Neutral rating.Yang and Tait said the core TV operations for ITV will remain difficult in the near term owing to Brexit uncertainty and regulatory risks around gambling and fatty foods advertising.However, against this challenged backdrop, the pair believe ITV is better positioned structurally and is more diversified than peers due to its stronger execution as demonstrated by its audience share gains over the last 3 years, its healthy studios business and improving monetisation of its video-on-demand business.In the FTSE 250, Kier Group remained firmly at the bottom of the midcap index, 41% lower, after publishing a profit warning for its current financial year.The construction firm said its adjusted operating profit for its 2019 financial year will be lower than previously expected with continued volume pressures on three of its divisions: Highways, Utilities and Housing Maintenance.In addition, despite double-digit order book growth, the Buildings business unit's revenue growth for 2019 will be lower than previously forecast, the company said.This will impact the Kier's financial results for the year ending June 30, with revenue expected "broadly in line" with financial 2018 and underlying operating profit around GBP25 million lower than previously guided. A year ago, Kier's revenue amounted to GBP4.5 billion while adjusted profit from operations was GBP160 million.In the green, gold miners remained at the top due to the gold price hike, with Egyptian gold miner Centamin closing 10% higher, while Hochschild Mining ended up 6.8%.The corporate calendar has full-year results from venture capital firm Draper Esprit, communication services provider KCOM Group, online retailer AO World and plastic products developer Carclo, while optical components firm Gooch & Housego has half-year results due.Brent oil was quoted at USD61.46 a barrel at the equities close, lower from USD63.32 at the same time on Friday. The pound was quoted at USD1.2622 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.2616 at the same time on Friday. On the political front, Trump made landfall in the UK for his first state visit, where he visited the Queen and other senior royals, and is due to meet the prime minister, who will be resigning on Friday.Even before his arrival, Trump has made a considerable degree of political turbulence with comments on the Tory leadership race and Brexit.Speaking to reporters just before he left the US, he praised Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, talked up the prospect of a Brexit trade deal, and rebuked Khan, who on Sunday described the president as "just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat" and compared the language he has used to that of the "fascists of the 20th century".Johnson himself, who is in the running for Number 10, vowed in a campaign video posted on Twitter that he would bring the UK out of the EU, with or without a Brexit deal."If I get in, we'll come out, deal or no-deal, on October 31," Johnson said in a campaign video posted on Twitter.In economic news, continued Brexit uncertainty weighed on the UK's manufacturing sector, the IHS Markit-CIPS purchasing managers' index showed.The manufacturing PMI reading was 49.4 for May, down "sharply" from 53.1 in April. A figure over 50 represents growth and below 50 contraction.This is the first time the figure has fallen below the neutral 50 mark since July 2016, the month after the Brexit referendum, with UK manufacturers reporting "increased difficulties" in getting clients to commit to new contract. This reflected a high level of recent inventories due to recent stockpiling ahead of the original Brexit date in March."Traders are finding it hard to ignore the mounting evidence showing the negative impact that the ongoing trade dispute is having on the global economy. Manufacturing sectors across the globe are contracting amid as fears of a global downturn," said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at CityIndex.The euro stood at USD1.1204 at the European equities close, higher against USD1.1145 on Friday.On the continent, IHS Markit's manufacturing purchasing managers index for the eurozone saw a reading of 47.7 in May, down slightly from 47.9 in April and remaining below the no-change mark of 50.The weakness, IHS said, was centred on the intermediate and investment goods sectors, with the consumer goods category showing "modest" growth. Consumer goods have now expanded continuously for five-and-a-half years.Germany turned out the weakest performance for the month in the bloc, falling to 44.3 from 44.4, meaning it is at one of its lowest points since the middle of 2012.This was despite the decline in output easing for the second month running, with consumer goods again doing well. Intermediate goods makers showed a "sharper" contraction.As for the US, despite the manufacturing sector showing a "slight improvement" in operating conditions in May, it still saw its lowest reading since September 2009, according to IHS Markit.Data showed the US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index posted 50.5 in May, down from April's 52.6.According to IHS, the data seen so far in the second quarter indicates a "distinct" slowdown in the manufacturing sector compared to the first three months of 2019.IHS said output growth eased - with the softest expansion since June 2016. The "marginal" rise in production was linked to clearing backlogs of previously placed orders. Another "key factor" for the poor showing was manufacturers reporting new orders decreasing for the first time since August 2009. Despite the slip being "only fractional", weak client demand was the attributing factor.The economic calendar on Tuesday has the UK construction PMI at 0930 BST, while the EU has unemployment data due out at 1000 BST.