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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London were broadly lower at Monday midday as investors cashed in gains from a record run last week, while the pound advanced against the dollar hurting the FTSE 100 index.
The large-cap index was down 30.60 points, or 0.4%, at 7,614.30 Monday midday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 36.88 points, or 0.2%, at 22,022.11. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.4% at 958.00.
The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.3% at 12,900.58. The Cboe 250 was down 0.1% at 19,920.00 and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.3% at 12,231.39.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3117 Monday midday, higher than USD1.3092 at the London equities close on Friday.
"The pound may stabilise and possibly rally into January and February before trade negotiations come to back to haunt in mid-March ahead of the European Council," said AxiTrader Strategist Stephen Innes.
Total capital issuance in the UK fell month-on-month in November, according to numbers released by the Bank of England.
Gross capital issuance by UK residents was down 8.7% to GBP36.7 billion from GBP40.2 billion in October. It also represents a 13% decrease from the GBP42.0 billion monthly average in the six months prior.
In the year-to-date, gross issuance came in at GBP429.6 billion, up 1.7% year-on-year from GBP422.6 billion. In the month of November, gross bond issuance was down by 24% to GBP27.2 billion from GBP20.6 billion in October.
In mainland Europe, trade was also subdued. The CAC 40 in Paris was flat and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt 0.1% lower in early afternoon trade.
The euro was quoted at USD1.1092 on Monday at midday, firm on USD1.1175 late Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted broadly flat at JPY109.13 versus JPY109.47 late Friday.
Wall Street is on course for a mild open. The Nasdaq Composite is called 0.1% lower, and both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average are seen opening flat.
On the London Stock Exchange, Smiths Group was down 0.6% after the Sunday Times reported that Andy Smith is likely step down as chief executive upon completion of the spin-off of the FTSE 100 engineer's medical business.
Smith, who has been chief executive of Smiths since 2015, has been under fire since the company was forced to abandon a merger of the medical unit with American firm ICU Medical, the newspaper reported.
In September 2018, Smiths confirmed that talks with ICU for a deal fell through. According to the Sunday Times, the Smiths board was unhappy with the terms of the deal.
Elsewhere, radio frequency technology provider CyanConnode surged 78% as it has secured an order for 33,000 smart metering solutions units in Thailand, a new territory for the firm.
Under the agreement CyanConnode said it will supply its hardware, head end system and annual maintenance services. Hardware deliveries will start in 2020, with deliverables for the integrated system commencing immediately.
As part of the contract, CyanConnode said it will receive an upfront payment at the time of order of around USD400,000, which is about 25% of the contract value.
Mosman Oil & Gas was up 7.1% after reporting progress at GEM International Resources, a Vancouver-based investee which recently raised new capital and conducted a debt for equity swap.
GEM raised CAD400,000, roughly GBP233,482, by issuing 8.0 million shares at five Canadian cents each.
Also, GEM completed a debt for equity swap for CAD270,000, meaning it has settled debt in exchange for new shares.
A remaining loan amount of CAD50,000 owed by GEM to Mosman has been repaid. Mosman now owns 1.8 million, roughly 9.0%, of the shares in GEM.
London-listed Mosman said: "GEM will now continue with its objective of securing an interest in a new project. Mosman is encouraged by this development and looks forward to the next step in GEM's revitalisation."
In commodities, gold was quoted at USD1,510.90 Monday midday, softer than USD1,514.27 at the London equities close on Friday. Brent oil was trading at USD67.14, lower versus USD68.14 at the close on Friday.
The economic events calendar on Monday has US goods trade balance at 1330 GMT.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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