Next Share News (NXT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended sharply lower on Wednesday with Next and miners weighing on the FTSE 100, as the US ramped up its trade spat with China. The FTSE 100 index closed 1.2%, or 95.85 points at 7,652.91. The FTSE 250 ended 0.4%, or 76.04 points, at 20,801.07, and the AIM All-Share closed flat at 1,092.91.The Cboe UK 100 closed down 1.5% at 12,971.11, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.7% at 18,899.79, and the Cboe UK Small Companies closed flat at 12,369.42.Investors were spooked over the escalating trade dispute between the US and China, the world's two largest economies.Reports said President Donald Trump's administration is considering raising the proposed tariff on USD200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25% from the 10% announced last month.A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry responded by accusing the US of "blackmail" and warning of inevitable countermeasures if the US takes further escalatory steps."The FTSE 100 has been the main laggard among European equity markets today, with the blue chip UK index falling by around 1% ahead of the FOMC meeting. The highly commodity and energy-focused FTSE 100 has suffered due to increased fears that the US-China trade war will knock demand,"said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.On the London Stock Exchange, Smurfit Kappa closed up 2.4% after the Irish paper & packaging firm said increased margins and lower fibre costs resulted in a 70% jump in interim pretax profit. Smurfit Kappa also raised its interim dividend by 10% to 25.4 euro cents per share. The company recorded pretax profit of EUR416 million in the six months to June 30, up from EUR245 million a year ago, on a revenue of EUR4.43 billion and EUR4.23 billion, respectively.Lloyds Banking Group closed up 2.2% after the high street lender reported a sharp increase in first-half profit, with upgraded financial guidance, despite an additional mis-selling charge.In the six months to June, Lloyds's pretax profit increased 23% to GBP3.12 billion from GBP2.54 billion the year before, due to higher income and lower total costs. The bank's net interest income rose 7% to GBP6.34 billion from GBP5.93 billion the previous year. Net income increased 2% to GBP8.97 billion from GBP8.78 billion. Although the lender booked GBP550 million in the half-year in relation to payment protection insurance redress, as its sees the claimant run-rate higher than previously thought ahead of next year's deadline - which was still below the GBP1.05 billion paid last year.Lloyds proposed an interim dividend of 1.07 pence per share, up from 1.0p per share last year.At the other end of the large cap index, Next closed down 6.2% after the clothing and homewares retailer said full price sales for the first half of the year increased 4.5%, led by a good online performance. Online full price sales in the 26 weeks to July 28, increased 16% on the prior year, while retail sales dipped 5.3% following a common trend among UK high-street retailers. PNext's performance in the three months to July was worst than the first quarter to May, with total sales up 2.8% and 6.0%, respectively. The second quarter performance of 2.8% was ahead of its guidance for the full year of around 1%, but Next warned this is unlikely to be sustained. Despite the increase in overall sales, Next remained conservative and kept its guidance unchanged at 1% increase in sales for the rest of 2018, as it believes some of the sales in July were "pulled forward from August".In addition, mining stocks were weighing on the large caps amid trade war fears and weak economic data from China.The manufacturing sector in China continued to expand in July, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Caixin revealed on Wednesday with a PMI score of 50.8. That is down from 51.0 in June. Glencore closed down 2.0%, Rio Tinto down 3.6%, BHP Billiton down 2.5% and Antofagasta down 2.3%.In the FTSE 250 Aggreko closed up 9.7% after the temporary power generator provider reiterated its annual expectations and said exceptional costs relating to an ongoing business improvement programme resulted in lower profit for the first half of 2018, despite a 10% improvement in revenue. The company recorded pretax profit of GBP59 million for the six months to June 30, down from GBP63 million in the year-ago period.At the other end of the midcap index, BBA Aviation closed down 16% after the aviation-support services group said for the six months to June 30, pretax profit dropped 11% to USD76.2 million from USD85.8 million, with the reduction arising from the higher level of exceptional and other items costs incurred by the company in the six-month period. BBA was hit by USD7.7 million of restructuring costs as it conducted a review of its Engine Repair & Overhaul business before putting it up for sale and classifying it as a discontinued operation. Capita closed down 11% after the outsourcer reported a decrease in first-half revenue but a sharp increase in profit - in line with expectations. In the six months ended June, the company said pretax profit increased 53% to GBP42.3 million from GBP27.6 million, despite a 5.6% decrease in revenue to GBP2.01 billion from GBP2.13 billion. The company did not propose an interim dividend. Capita paid an interim dividend of 11.1 pence per share in the first half of 2017. Looking ahead, the company's full-year guidance is unchanged. Capita's 2020 targets remain unchanged also.The pound was firm against the dollar quoted at USD1.3117 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.3105 at the close Tuesday, as data showed the UK manufacturing sector expanded at the slowest pace in three months in July, survey data from IHS Markit and Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply showed. The manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 54.0 in July from 54.3 in June. However, any reading above 50 indicates growth in the sector. Moreover, the index remained comfortably above its long-run average of 51.8. Among components, both output and new orders grew at softer rates in July, as weaker growth of new work from domestic sources offset a stronger increase in new export orders.On Thursday investors are bracing for the prospect of an interest rate rise from the Bank of England with economic data having held up in the interim, although expectations for a hike have largely been priced in. The BoE will announce its latest monetary policy decision, alongside the release of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting minutes and Quarterly Inflation Report, at midday on Thursday, on what has come to be known as 'Super Thursday'.This will be followed by a press conference with BoE Governor Mark Carney at 1230 BST.The BoE raised interest rates for the first time in a decade in November 2017, lifting the Bank Rate off its historic low of 0.25% to 0.50%. Thursday's decision is expected to result in interest rates going to 0.75%."We could see some reaction from sterling [on Thursday] though, which has remained resolutely weak against the dollar, despite rising expectations of a rate rise. That probably reflects the fact that economic data hasn't been resoundingly positive in the lead up to this interest rate decision, plus of course the prospect of a no-deal Brexit has raised its head in recent weeks," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Laith Khalaf.In Paris the CAC 40 ended 0.2%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended 0.5%. The euro stood at USD1.1662 at the European equities close, against USD1.1700 late Tuesday. In economic news, eurozone manufacturing activity remained subdued at the start of the third quarter, as initially estimated, final data from IHS Markit showed. The factory PMI rose to 55.1 in July, in line with flash estimate, from 54.9 in June.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close ahead of the US Federal Reserve interest rate decision.The Federal Open Market Committee will conclude its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday and announce its decision at 1900 BST. This will not be followed by a press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell.With no press conference and having raised US interest rates just last month, there is expected to be no monetary policy change from the Federal Reserve.Instead, market participants will be looking for any tweaks to the accompanying statement, and whether a total of four rate hikes remain in play for 2018 or if a backdrop of escalating trade tensions between the US and China will force the central bank to be more patient.At the last meeting, held in June, the US central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to a range of 1.75% to 2.00%, in line with economist expectations. The was the second rate rise the Fed has carried out since the start of 2018.The DJIA was down 0.2%, the S&P 500 index down 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%.The strength on Wall Street came following a report from Bloomberg indicating the US and China are trying to restart talks aimed at averting a full-blown trade war.Citing two people familiar with the effort, Bloomberg said representatives for US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He are having private conversations.The two people cautioned that a specific timetable, the issues to be discussed and the format for talks aren't finalized, Bloomberg said.Traders were also digesting the latest batch of US economic data, including a report from the Commerce Department showing personal income and spending both increased in line with economist estimates in the month of June.The report said personal income climbed by 0.4% in June, matching the increase seen in May as well as expectations.The Commerce Department said personal spending also rose by 0.4% in June after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.5% in May.Economists had expected spending to increase by 0.4% compared to the 0.2% uptick originally reported for the previous month.Brent oil was lower following industry data showing a build in US crude inventories, quoted at USD72.59 a barrel at the equities close from USD74.73 at the same time the prior day. Gold was slightly lower quoted at USD1,218.47 an ounce compared to USD1,222.66 late Tuesday.Data from the American Petroleum Institute reported a crude oil inventory build of 5.59 million barrels last week, compared to analyst expectations for a 2.8 million-barrel drawdown. The EIA reported that US crude inventories increased by 3.8 million barrels last week.The economic events calendar on Thursday has UK construction PMI data at 0930 BST, eurozone producer prices at 1000 BST and US factory orders at 1500 BST. The UK corporate calendar on Thursday has half year results from jet engines maker Rolls-Royce Holdings, high street lender Barclays, insurers Aviva and RSA Insurance and from stock exchange operator London Stock Exchange Group.