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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended fractionally lower on Wednesday, as investors exercised caution ahead of the highly anticipated meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Japan later this week. The FTSE 100 index closed down 6.04 points, or 0.1%, at 7,416.39. The FTSE 250 ended down 26.12 points, or 0.1%, at 19,260.39, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.97 points, or 0.1%, at 924.00.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.1% at 12,593.50, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.2% at 17,214.00, and the Cboe Small Companies declined 0.2% to 11,439.73."After a drop lower on the open, the FTSE has dipped in and out of positive territory across most of the session, uninspired even by the bounce back in US equities on trade deal optimism," said City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta. In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 0.3%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt closed up 0.1%.In the FTSE 100, International Consolidated Airlines Group closed up 2.3% after the airline operator said it raised the repurchase price on its EUR500.0 million 0.25% convertible bonds due 2020.The British Airways and Iberia operator has increase the repurchase price of its bonds to EUR100,350 per EUR100,000 of bonds from EUR100,200 per EUR100,000.On Monday, IAG invited those holders of the 2020 bonds who are not US residents to tender their bonds through a reverse bookbuild. Aside from the increased price, the terms remain the same. Oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and 'B' shares all closed up 0.6% tracking spot oil prices higher.Brent oil was quoted at USD66.60 a barrel at the London equities close, up from USD65.41 at the close Tuesday. Oil prices rose after the US Energy Information Administration reported a decline of 12.8 million barrels in crude oil inventories. Shell is London's largest company by market capitalisation, while BP is third. At the other end of the large cap index, Mexican gold miner Fresnillo ended down 2.0% as gold retreated from six-year highs after the Federal Reserve chair said the US central bank was in no rush to cut interest rates.Gold was quoted at USD1,409.34 an ounce at the London equities close, sharply lower than USD1,428.08 late Tuesday.Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday reiterated that the central bank will "act as appropriate" to sustain the US economic expansion. Powell acknowledged in his prepared remarks that crosscurrents have re-emerged since the Fed's May meeting but did not appear to signal the imminent interest rate cut currently being priced in by the markets. The Fed chief specifically cited apparent progress on trade turning to greater uncertainty and incoming data raising renewed concerns about the strength of the global economy.Bunzl closed down 1.5% after the distribution and outsourcing firm said revenue for the six months to the end of June increased by 4% at actual exchange rates. Revenue at constant exchange rates - and also adjusted for the impact of the number of trading days in the period relative to the prior year - is expected to have risen by around 2%. Moreover, underlying revenue growth is expected at 1% in the half-year. In the first half of 2018, the distribution company reported revenue of GBP4.34 billion. Bunzl highlighted that growth through acquisitions is an "important" part of its ongoing strategy, with half of its 2% constant currency revenue growth coming from that source. Total committed spend on acquisitions so far this year of GBP100 million. Bunzl said its financial expectations for 2019 remain unchanged, with overall trading consistent with slowing underlying revenue growth.In the FTSE 250, Petrofac ended the best performer up 15%.The Guardian newspaper, citing sources, reported that the UK Serious Fraud Office has abandoned a criminal investigation into three businessmen who were accused of paying bribes in the energy industry.The SFO had been probing claims that Unaoil - a Monaco-based consultancy that worked with Petrofac between 2002 and 2009 - had paid substantial bribes to win oil and gas contracts.The SFO separately is probing Petrofac since May 2017, which is still ongoing.Elsewhere, London market debutante Trainline closed at 417.95 pence, up 19% from its initial public offering price of 350p - valuing the firm at about GBP2 billion. The rail and coach booking app company's 480.7 million shares were admitted to trading on London Stock Exchange on Wednesday, making it the second-largest opening market cap of any IPO in London in 2019 behind Network International Holdings's GBP2.20 billion.The pound was quoted at USD1.2682 at the London equities close, down from USD1.2715 at the close Tuesday, after new no-deal Brexit threats from Conservative Party leadership frontrunner Boris Johnson.The contest to succeed Theresa May as prime minister intensified after Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt accused Johnson of making promises he cannot deliver over Brexit, as the rivals clashed over the October 31 deadline.Johnson made a "do or die" promise to deliver Brexit by that date, but Hunt insisted he was "far more likely" to be able to deliver Brexit due to his skills as a negotiator.In an open letter, Johnson challenged the foreign secretary to commit to the Halloween deadline "come what may", warning that not doing so would have "devastating" consequences for the Conservative Party and the country.Separately, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned that a "notable" increase in no-deal Brexit fears and ongoing uncertainty is damaging the UK economy.The UK central bank chief told members of Parliament the lack of any progress towards a deal and the extended Brexit deadline is leaving firms in limbo in terms of preparations and investment.Carney said a no-deal, no-transition Brexit would be the "worst way to resolve that uncertainty" as far as businesses are concerned.The euro stood at USD1.1380 at the European equities close, flat against USD1.1381 late Tuesday. Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close as comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin generated optimism about a potential US-China trade deal.The DJIA was up 0.1%, the S&P 500 index up 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.7%.Ahead of the highly anticipated G20 meeting between Trump and Xi in Osaka, Japan, Mnuchin told CNBC the US and China had nearly completed a deal before talks broke down last month."We were about 90% of the way there and I think there's a path to complete this," Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC's Hadley Gamble but did not shed any light on the sticking points to achieving the final 10%.Mnuchin refused to speculate on whether a deal would be completed but said he was "hopeful," noting "President Trump and President Xi have a very close working relationship". The pair will meet for the first time in seven months.On the economic front, a report from the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a steep drop in durable goods orders in May.The Commerce Department said durable goods orders tumbled by 1.3% in May after plunging by 2.8% in April. The continued decrease surprised economists, who had expected durable goods orders to rise by 0.2%.Meanwhile, excluding another nosedive in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 0.3% in May after edging down by 0.1% in April. Economists had expected a 0.1% uptick.The economic events calendar on Thursday has Germany inflation readings at 1300 BST and US GDP figures at 1330 BST. The UK corporate calendar on Thursday has annual results from pub operator and brewer Greene King and fund manager Liontrust Asset Management. There are also trading statements from oilfield services company Hunting and outsourcer Serco Group. 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