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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK equities have opened mixed on Wednesday, with miners weighing on the FTSE 100, while media buying giant WPP led the small number of blue-chip gainers.
The FTSE 100 index was down 0.3%, or 17.32 points, at 6,851.19. The index was being dragged down by the heavily weighted mining sector index as a rebound in the dollar hit commodity prices.
Before the London open, Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said of the dollar's rise: "Note potential for the Mining, Oil and USD-exposed names on the FTSE 100 to thus be under pressure in early trading following yesterday's gains."
Glencore traded down 3.2%, Anglo American was down 1.8% and Antofagasta was down 1.9%.
In addition, Glencore said it has continued to reduce its debt pile as expected during the first half of the year and said debt will be lower than first thought by the end of the year as it confirmed it has stayed in the red in the period, as expected.
The company said net debt was reduced by 9.0% in the first six months of the year to USD23.58 billion from USD25.88 billion at the end of 2015 as it continues to carry out its debt reduction plan that is being driven by cost reductions and asset sales.
Net debt stood 2.91 times higher than the adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation generated in the period.
The FTSE 250 was up 0.2% at 18,019.37 and the AIM All-Share was up 0.2% at 792.36.
European stocks started lower. The French CAC 40 and the German DAX 30 were down 0.5%.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.6%, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.1% and the Hang Seng continues down 1.2%.
WPP shares were up 4.4%, making it the best performer in the FTSE 100. The media buying giant said it expects a slightly weaker second half, and reported a fall in reported pretax profit for the first half due to exceptional write-downs, although headline profit rose.
The company said it had revised its full year forecast for a slight increase in like-for-like revenue growth from its previous estimate, as the scale of digital media purchases are forecast to increase. The company forecasts revenue growth well over 3% and net sales growth over 3% for the full-year.
Following a strong first half, it said it expects a slightly weaker second half, "partly reflecting stronger comparatives in the second half of 2015".
Housebuilders picked up where they left off on Tuesday and were amongst the gainers in the blue-chip index.
In the FTSE 250, lender OneSavings Bank said its pretax profit more than doubled in the first half, with underlying profit also surging, as its loan book continued to grow and its common equity tier one ratio improved significantly.
Gross organic loan origination grew 25% in the half, the company said, and its CET1 ratio, a core measure of financial strength for lenders, rose to 13.3% from 11.6% at the end of 2015. The company hiked its interim dividend 45% to 2.90 pence from 2.0p.
The stock was the best performer in the mid-cap index, up 5.7%.
Polymetal International said net earnings soared by 67% in the first half of the year despite reporting a drop in revenue as the company maintained its interim dividend and production guidance whilst lowering its full year expenditure budget.
However, the stock was trading in line with other miners, and was down 1.1%.
Costain Group traded up 5.3% after it reported growth in profit and revenue in the first half and hiked its dividend as said it remains on track to meet its expectations for 2016.
The engineering services company said it made a pretax profit of GBP11.3 million in the six months to the end of June, up from GBP10.0 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to GBP791.4 million from GBP621.1 million, boosted by good trading for the company and a contribution from the Rhead business it bought in August 2015.
Still ahead in the economic calendar are UK mortgage approvals are at 0930 BST. The focus then switches to the US housing market with US mortgage approvals at 1200 BST, the housing price index is at 1400 BST and existing home sales are at 1500 BST. There are also crude oil stocks from the Energy Information Administration at 1530 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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