LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended mixed on Thursday with the weak pound benefiting heavyweights in the FTSE 100, as sharp falls from Babcock and Sports Direct weighed on the midcaps.The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.1%, or 7.69 points at 7,683.97. The FTSE 250 ended down 0.4%, or 77.04 points, at 20,907.16, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.3%, or 2.76 points, at 1,094.27.The Cboe UK 100 closed up 0.1% at 13,027.14, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.4% at 19,039.14, and the Cboe UK Small Companies closed down 0.4% at 12,500.72."The FTSE100 has been a bit of an outlier [compared to European peers], outperforming due to a weaker pound as companies that don't report in sterling, pushed higher with Royal Dutch Shell and BP both rising by more than 1%, and Unilever also having a good day," said CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson.On the London Stock Exchange,
Unilever ended as the best blue chip performer up 2.8% after the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods firm reported a drop in first half profit but said it expects improvement in the second half.For the six months to June 30, the company recorded pretax profit of EUR4.34 billion, down 6.3% from EUR4.63 billion in the year-ago period. Revenue fell 5.0% to EUR26.35 billion from EUR27.73 billion.The company said adverse currency movement dented revenue growth by 8.9%, hurting profit for the interim period. Moreover, the truckers' strike in Brazil - one of Unilever's biggest markets - hurt adjusted sales growth by around 60 basis points. "Our expectation for the full year is unchanged. We expect underlying sales growth in the 3% - 5% range, an improvement in underlying operating margin and strong cash flow. We remain on track for our 2020 goals," said Chief Executive Paul Polman.Oil majors
BP,
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and Shell 'B' closed up 1.4%, 1.2% and 1.2%. Shell is London's largest listed company by market capitalisation, while BP is the third biggest. At the other end of the large cap index,
Anglo American ended as the worst performer down 4.1% despite the miner reporting a solid increase in overall production for the second quarter of 2018.On a copper equivalent basis, production for the three months to June rose 6% year-on-year, which excludes the stoppage at its Minas-Rio mine in Brazil due to pipeline leaks.
Ashtead Group closed down 3.0% after the equipment rental firm suffered a negative read-across after shares in US peer United Rentals fell 0.2% in New York, despite reporting strong second quarter earnings late Wednesday. In the FTSE 250,
Moneysupermarket.com ended as the best performer up 8.1% after the price comparison site posted a rise in first half earnings on the back of increased energy switching by consumers and a solid performance by the insurance division. In addition, the group has formed a joint venture with the founders of HD Decisions that created the industry standard for cards and loans eligibility for developing the new mortgage comparison tool.At the other end of the midcap index,
Babcock International closed down 8.1% after the defence outsourcer said it now expects to see low single-digit underlying revenue growth for the full year, compared to a previous forecast of "low mid-single digit" growth at its annual results in May. Revenue expectations for the Aviation sector and the Nuclear sector remain unchanged, though defence revenue is now expected to be "temporarily impacted" by the restructuring of the Defence Equipment & Support organisation, which has created the new Submarine Delivery Agency.
Sports Direct International ended down 7.1% after the sportswear retailer's "strategic investment" in retailing peer Debenhams put a significant dent in the company's annual profit, even as the sportswear chain's own strategy "continues to exceed expectations". Sports Direct's shares fell after its near 30% stake in embattled department store chain
Debenhams lost value in its recently ended financial year.The retailer said pretax profit for the year to April 29 fell 73% to GBP77.5 million from GBP281.6 million reported a year earlier, even as revenue rose 3.5% to GBP3.36 billion from GBP3.25 billion. The pound continued to trade at 10-months lows against the greenback after ill-received UK retail sales numbers.Sterling was quoted at USD1.2986 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.3058 at the close Wednesday, its lowest level since September 2017. UK retail sales revealed a mixed bag as they unexpectedly declined in June, but the quarterly growth was robust, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed.Retail sales dropped 0.5% from the previous month, while economists' were looking for a 0.2% increase. The decline came after a two months of strong growth. In May, sales rose 1.4%. "Continued growth in food sales was offset by declining spending in many other shops as consumers stayed away from stores and instead enjoyed the World Cup and the heatwave," ONS senior statistician Rhian Murphy said.In the three months to June, sales rose 2.1%, marking the fastest growth since February 2015. Food stores led the strong growth, up 2.2%, which was the biggest since May 2001.Continued good weather and World Cup celebrations had encouraged food and drink sales, the ONS said, citing feedback from supermarkets."The big quarterly rise in retail sales volumes in Q2 has provided yet more evidence that a consumer revival is now underway," Capital Economics economist Ruth Gregory said.In Paris the CAC 40 ended down 0.7%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended down 0.6%. The euro was marginally lower at USD1.1605 at the European equities close, against USD1.1642 late Wednesday. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said the European Union's record USD5 billion fine against tech giant Google proves his point that the EU is taking advantage of the US.Trump is engaged in a running dispute with the EU over trade and is expect to meet with EU leaders at the White House next week.Trump has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU and is considering levies against European cars sold in the US. The President recently described the EU, which includes some of the US's strongest allies, as a "foe" of the US.On Wednesday, the EU imposed a EUR4 billion fine on the tech firm under antitrust laws."The EU decision to slap a fine onto Google for their apparent violation of antitrust laws comes at a sensitive time between the EU and US, predictably drawing criticism from Donald Trump... Unfortunately, while most of us believes we would have seen a resolution to the US-EU trade war by this point, relations between the two sides seem to be at an all-time low," said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.Stocks in New York were lower at the London equities close as investors looked to take profits following the record highs reached in recent sessions.Recent strength in equity markets lifted the Nasdaq to a record closing high on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 ended the previous session at its best closing level in over five months. The Dow also reached a monthly closing high.The DJIA was down 0.3%, the S&P 500 index down 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.1%.In US corporate news, tobacco firm Philip Morris International lowered its fiscal 2018 reported earnings outlook. The revised outlook reflected the rightsizing of its existing IQOS heated tobacco device and consumable inventories as well as a shift in previously positive currency to a headwind for the full year.Philip Morris shares were down 5.2% in New York. Still to come, software giant Microsoft will report earnings after the market close. In economic news, data showed that US weekly jobless claims unexpectedly declined last week to their lowest level in almost five decades.Figures from the Labor Department showed that initial jobless claims fell to 207,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 215,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 220,000 from the 214,000 originally reported for the previous week.Brent oil was up quoted at USD73.50 a barrel at the London equities close from USD72.21 at the same time the prior day. Gold continued to slide quoted at USD1,216.90 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,223.17 late Wednesday.The precious metal hit an intraday low of USD1,211.96 in afternoon trade, its lowest level in a year. The economic events calendar on Friday has Japan inflation data at 0030 BST, Germany producer prices at 0700 BST, eurozone current account figures at 0900 BST and UK public sector borrowing numbers at 0930 BST.The UK corporate calendar on Friday has half year results from gold miner
Acacia Mining and from insurer
Beazley. There are also trading statements from home emergency repairs business
HomeServe and currency manager
Record.
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