(Alliance News) -Â The FTSE 100 got off to a slow start relative to a rest of Europe on Tuesday as the pound, emboldened by an upbeat UK labour market report, dragged on London's blue-chip index.
This was despite Vodafone shares rallying after the large-cap telecommunications firm tightened guidance.
The FTSE 100 index was down just 0.86 of a point at 7,351.00 early Tuesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 12.85 points, or 0.1%, at 23,608.73. The AIM All-Share index was down 1.79 points, or 0.2%, at 1,252.79.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.1% at 728.51. The Cboe 250 was flat at 21,068.56, and the Cboe Small Companies flat at 15,668.07.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt were both up 0.1% early Tuesday.
London's FTSE 100 was fighting to stay in the green early Tuesday as a stronger pound weighed on the internationally-exposed index.
Sterling rallied after data showed the UK unemployment rate eased by more than expected to 4.3% in the three months to September from 4.5% in August. Consensus, according to FXStreet, had pencilled in a decline to 4.4%.
"July to September 2021 estimates show a continuing recovery in the labour market, with a quarterly increase in the employment rate, while the unemployment rate decreased, and the economic inactivity rate was largely unchanged," the Office for National Statistics said.
The ONS said it estimates there were 29.3 million payrolled employees in October, up 160,000 on September. Meanwhile, job vacancies in August to October rose to a new record of 1.2 million.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3457 early Tuesday, rising from USD1.3428 at the London equities close on Monday on the back of the jobs figures.
The pound's rally was outweighing a boost to the FTSE 100 from major constituent Vodafone, the stock up 4.3% after the telecommunications firm tightened guidance.
Revenue for the half-year to September 30 rose 5.0% to EUR22.49 billion, but pretax profit fell 34% to EUR1.28 billion. This was largely due to Vodafone booking 'other' expenses of EUR108 million versus a gain of EUR1.06 billion a year ago.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, after leases - which doesn't include the 'other' charge - grew by 7.9% to EUR7.57 billion from EUR7.01 billion, a 6.5% rise on an organic basis.
Vodafone narrowed its full-year adjusted Ebitda after leases guidance to EUR15.2 billion to EUR15.4 billion, the top end of its prior range of EUR15.0 billion to EUR15.4 billion. Adjusted free cash flow guidance was upgraded to at least EUR5.3 billion, from at least EUR5.2 billion.
"The results show we have demonstrated good sustainable growth and solid commercial momentum. Our strengthened performance in Africa and Europe puts us on track to be at the top end of our guidance for this year, as well as firmly within our medium-term financial ambitions," said Chief Executive Nick Read.
Land Securities rose 1.5% as it reported a 2.7% increase in EPRA net tangible assets per share to 1,012p at the end of September from 985p at March 31. The property developer and investor swung to a pretax profit of GBP275 million from a loss of GBP835 million a year ago.
While there remain risks ahead, the firm said its outlook is one of "cautious optimism".
"We are providing high-quality, sustainable office space that is very well aligned to today's customer demands; in our retail portfolio we are generally seeing leasing activity supportive of ERVs for the first time in quite a while and increasing evidence of a 'flight to prime' for which our portfolio is well placed; and we are building real momentum with our mixed-use development activity," said LandSec.
Surging to the top of the FTSE 250 was Restaurant Group, up 11%. The dining chains owner upgraded guidance after strong trading in recent weeks, noting a "minor improvement" in UK airport passenger volumes, leading to a partial recovery in sales run rates for its Concessions business.
As a result, the Wagamama parent now expects full-year adjusted Ebitda in a range of GBP73 million to GBP79 million.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong surged 1.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.7%.
Asian stocks were mixed as investors monitored a virtual summit between US President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping.
The video-link summit, which took place late Monday in Washington and early Tuesday in Beijing, lasted a "longer than expected" three and a half hours, a senior US official told reporters. "The conversation was respectful and straightforward."
Chinese state media reported after the summit that Xi cautioned Biden that encouraging Taiwanese independence would be "playing with fire". The White House readout after the summit was considerably more measured, but between the lines, Biden's pushback against Beijing's increasingly aggressive posture toward Taiwan was clear.
Elsewhere, the economic events calendar on Tuesday has eurozone economic growth figures at 1000 GMT and US retail sales at 1330 GMT.
The euro traded at USD1.1375 early Tuesday, down from USD1.1420 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY114.24 from JPY113.95.
Gold was quoted at USD1,866.43 an ounce, rising from USD1,860.70 on Monday. Brent oil was trading at USD82.81 a barrel, up from USD81.35 late Monday.
By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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