(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were lower at midday on Wednesday as investor focus turns to US jobs figures later in the afternoon that are a precursor to the nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.
The FTSE 100 index was down 46.73 points, or 0.7%, at 7,040.82. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 112.67 points, or 0.5%, at 22,429.50. The AIM All-Share index was down 6.37 points, or 0.4%, at 1,249.69.
The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.5% at 700.50. The Cboe 250 was down 0.6% at 20,099.73, and the Cboe Small Companies was flat at 15,348.10.
In Paris, the CAC 40 was down 0.9%, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 down 0.8%.
"European stocks are on the back foot in trade today, with another bout of sterling weakness providing little upside momentum for the FTSE 100," said IG Group's Josh Mahony.
In the FTSE 250, Indivior gave back some earlier gains, but was still the best performer, up 6.5%, after the drugmaker raised its 2021 guidance to reflect increasing business momentum.
Indivior said it expects higher annual net revenue in the range of USD705 million to USD740 million, up from the previously guided up to USD625 million, reflecting a stronger Sublocade performance. Group net revenue was USD647 million in 2020, which was down 18% from USD785 million in 2019.
Net revenue from Sublocade for 2021 is expected to be in the range of USD210 million to USD230 million, up from USD185 million to USD210 million previously guided, based on stronger demand and a large order from a new criminal justice system customer worth USD7 million.
Sublocade is Indivior's lead treatment for opioid addiction.
Dixons Carphone was up 5.0%. The electrical goods seller resumed dividend payments after online sales rescued a year that saw its stores forced to close by lockdown restrictions.
For the financial year that ended May 1, the retailer swung to a pretax profit of GBP33 million from a GBP140 million pretax loss last year on revenue of GBP10.3 billion, up 1.0% from GBP10.2 billion.
Dixons Carphone restarted dividend payments after they were suspended in April 2020, declaring a payout of 3.0p per share. The FTSE 250 company said it expects dividends to grow in the medium term. In the 2019 financial year, it paid out 6.75p per share.
Looking ahead, Dixons Carphone expects an operating profit margin of at least 4.0% by 2024. It also expects positive cashflow from the UK & Ireland Mobile unit over 2021 to 2024 to be at least GBP200 million, up from the previously guided GBP125 million to GBP175 million range.
Workspace Group was up 1.5% after RBC Capital raised the flexible office space provider to Outperform from Sector Perform.
At the other end of the midcaps, Cairn Energy was the worst performer, down 4.5%, after Berenberg downgraded the oil and gas company to Hold from Buy.
Elsewhere, Stagecoach was up 1.5%. The public transport company posted a fall in annual earnings, though it is confident as the UK emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Peer FirstGroup was up 0.9%.
For the financial year that ended May 1, Stagecoach's pretax profit was down 39% to GBP24.7 million from GBP40.6 million the year before as revenue dropped 35% to GBP928.2 million from GBP1.42 billion. Stagecoach said that, due to continuing uncertainties caused by Covid-19, it was not proposing any dividends for the financial year.
"We remain confident that there is a strong and positive future for public transport as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. Government commitments in the recently published National Bus Strategy for England, and similar ambitions in Scotland and Wales, provide a huge opportunity to fundamentally transform travel, moving away from towns and cities built around cars to more vibrant and prosperous places, well-connected by easy-to-use sustainable public transport and active travel," Chief Executive Officer Martin Griffiths said.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3856 at midday on Wednesday in London, up from USD1.3840 at the London equities close Tuesday, recovering from an intraday low of USD1.3815 following the release of UK data.
The UK economy shrank in the first quarter, taking a hit from the government's lockdown restrictions, according to the Office for National Statistics.
In the three months to March, UK gross domestic product contracted 1.6% quarter-on-quarter, following growth of 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2020 from the third. The revised reading was improved slightly from a preliminary estimate of a contraction of 1.5%.
On an annual basis, the UK economy shrank by an unrevised 6.1% in the first quarter, in line with market estimates cited by FXStreet.
"Sterling has continued its decline as the UK registered the highest number of Covid-19 cases since January due to the fast spreading delta variant. However, the currency market could find some comfort in the fact that, thanks to a widely vaccinated UK population, hospitalisation numbers and deaths are not rising as fast as they had been in previous waves," said analysts at OFX.
The euro stood at USD1.1887 at midday, lower from USD1.1908 late Tuesday, following economic data from the continent.
Inflation in the eurozone is expected to slow in June, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.
Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 1.9% in June 2021, decelerating from 2.0% in May. The latest reading was in line with market forecasts.
Jesus Cabra Guisasola at Validus Risk Management, commented: "Unlike the US and UK CPI data which helped initiate a move towards a more hawkish tone, these numbers will continue to support the ECB's ultra-loose monetary policy in the coming months, as Chief Economist Philip Lane already signalled that the September meeting would be too soon for a tapering debate.
"So far the market reaction has been muted. However, the euro has come under some downside pressures in recent weeks, with the currency depreciating against the dollar from USD1.22 to below the USD1.19 level."
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY110.51, flat from JPY110.48.
Brent oil was quoted at USD75.28 a barrel on Wednesday at midday, up from USD75.11 at the London equities close Tuesday. Gold was priced at USD1,758.00 an ounce, little changed from USD1,760.21.
US stock market futures were pointed lower following record-setting levels reached once again by the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called down 0.2%, the S&P 500 down 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.1%.
Attention turns to a reading of US private-sector employment at 1315 BST, ahead of the key jobs report on Friday.
Analysts widely expect the private-sector ADP jobs report to show 600,000 workers were added to payrolls in June, down from May's additions of 978,000.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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