LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are pointed to open lower Friday amid concerns about the US and China and despite Royal Bank of Scotland offering some cheer by declaring a special dividend to shareholders after beating profit expectations. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index to open 25.70 points lower at 7,171.31. The blue chip index closed up 6.17 points, or 0.1%, at 7,197.01. Trade talks between China and the US entered their second day on Friday, with both sides attempting to resolve a seven-month trade dispute ahead of a US deadline for raising tariffs on Chinese goods further.US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, according to White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow. "Asian markets followed Wall Street lower as traders digested dire US retail sales figures and reports that President Trump will declare a national emergency to get his Wall with Mexico funded," said London Capital Group's Jasper Lawler."This overshadowed any optimism over US-China trade talks, although that too was starting to wear a little thin."The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed 1.1% lower Friday. In China, the Shanghai Composite is 1.4% lower in late trade, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 2.0%.Consumer prices in China were up 1.7% on year in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 1.9%, which would have been unchanged from the December reading. On a monthly basis, consumer prices were up 0.5% following the flat reading in December. Chinese producer prices were up 0.1% on year, shy of expectations for an increase of 0.5% and down from 0.9% in the previous monthIn the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.4% and the S&P 500 0.3% lower. The Nasdaq Composite ended 0.1% up.On Thursday, US retail sales fell 1.2% after a 0.1% revised rise in November. Economists had expected a 0.2% increase. Excluding autos sales, retail sales were down 1.8%. President Donald Trump will sign a funding package and avert a partial shutdown of the federal government, but he sparked outrage from Democrats who on Thursday described as "lawless" his plan to simultaneously declare a national emergency on the Mexico border.The president's manoeuvring means Washington's focus shifts from keeping the government open to immigration and Trump's campaign promise to build a wall across the US-Mexico border, while creating the possibility of a constitutional crisis over the emergency declaration."President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action, including a national emergency, to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.On the London Stock Exchange, Royal Bank of Scotland rewarded shareholders with a special dividend, as profit for 2018 beat the market's expectations.RBS will pay a 7.5 pence per share special dividend for 2018, and will return a final dividend of 3.5p. Combined with the bank's 2.0p interim payout, the year's total is 13p.The 2018 interim dividend was RBS's first in ten years, after being bailed out by the UK government during the financial crisis.The bank's attributable profit for 2018 came in at GBP1.62 billion, compared to consensus of GBP1.42 billion. In 2017, when RBS reported its first profit in a decade, the figure was GBP752 million.Net interest income for 2018 was GBP8.66 billion, against GBP8.65 billion consensus and GBP8.99 billion a year prior. Total income was GBP13.40 billion, compared to 2017's GBP13.13 billion and the market expectation of GBP13.38 billion.Pretax operating profit was GBP3.36 billion, beating GBP3.16 billion consensus and well above the GBP2.24 billion in 2017.RBS's common equity tier 1 ratio, or CET1, at the end of 2018 was 16.2%. Consensus had seen it at 16.5%. At the end of 2017, it had been 15.9%. Tesco said its adoption of new IFRS 16 accounting standards will not have any cash impact on the company, though it will change the way it reports assets, liabilities, and income. The new standard will start in all results from the start of 2019, though previously years will be revised.For the half-year ended August 2018, sales and cash flow will be unaffected. Operating profit will rise, but pretax profit will fall, as will net assets. This results from the balance of rent, interest and depreciation.Segro reported a strong set of annual results. The warehouse owner said adjusted pretax profit rose 24% to GBP241.5 million in 2018. Statutory pretax profit climbed 13% to GBP1.10 billion.Segro's revenue was GBP369.0 million from GBP334.7 million, with net rental income growth of 3.1% and a 24% year-on-year rise in new rent. The company is paying a 13.25 pence final dividend, taking the year's total to 18.8p compared to 16.6p in 2017. Vacancies remain low, it said, at 5.2% while the outlook is positive for earnings with 1.3 million square feet of new developments in the pipeline for 2019. Segro also said it will raise GBP450 million through a share issue, which it will use for existing and new developments. Packaging firm Mondi expects underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2018 to be "above that" generated in 2017, which had been EUR1.48 billion.Mondi expects to recognise special item net charges after tax of EUR92 million for 2018, up from the EUR53 million booked in 2017. Of the figure for 2018, EUR81 million was recognised in the first half of the year.The FTSE 100 constituent expects to generate basic underlying earnings per share of between 186 euro cents to 192 cents in 2018, up to 29% higher than the 148.9 cents posted in 2017.In the FTSE 250, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels revenue fell to GBP997 million in 2018 from GBP1.01 billion at reported rates, though it rose 1.0% at constant currency.Revenue per available room fell 1.5% to GBP81.57 at reported rates but rose 0.7% at constant currency.Millennium & Copthorne's pretax profit slumped 28% to GBP106 million, and slipped 26% at constant currency. It has cut its final dividend, to 2.15p from 4.42p, meaning its annual total has fallen to 4.23p from 6.50p. The company said hospitality has faced a range of headwinds in 2018 that look set to continue, adding 2019 is set to be another challenging year.Centamin has more than doubled its resource at the Doropo project in Ivory Coast, to 2.1 million ounces of gold indicated and 800,000 ounces inferred. At the ABC project, the maiden resource for the Kona South prospect is 19.6 million tonnes of ore with 650,000 ounces of indicated gold, as well as 450,000 ounces of inferred gold. Elsewhere, Georgia Healthcare's revenue for 2018 has risen 14% to GEL849.9 million, or GBP251.9 million, with pretax profit climbed 16% to GEL53.9 million. The company had a good year, it said, with results "robust" in all businesses, and it expects further growth in 2019. Premier Foods has ended talks over selling its Ambrosia brand, saying the present business climate means an acceptable price will not be achieved. Focus on Friday will be the UK's own retail sales for January at 0930 GMT. Analysts at Societe Generale expect retail sales to improve from the 2.6% registered in December year-on-year to 3.5%.Angry Tory party loyalists have turned on the party's Brexiteers after Theresa May's plans for leaving the EU suffered another humiliating Commons defeat.Downing Street insisted the UK prime minister would continue with her negotiating strategy, with ministers dismissing Thursday's vote as no more than a "hiccup".However there was fury among some Conservative members of Parliament after a last-minute announcement by the pro-Brexit European Research Group it had taken a "collective decision" to abstain.With some Remainers also failing to vote, and five Tory MPs voting with the opposition, the government fell to a 303 to 258 vote defeat. The pound was higher, quoted at USD1.2796 early Friday, compared to USD1.2777 at the close Thursday.Aside from UK retail sales, the economic calendar Friday has US industrial production at 1415 GMT, and the University of Michigan consumer survey at 1500 GMT.
6 May 2016 15:00
