Sophos Group Share News (SOPH)

(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 index continued its upwards trajectory on Wednesday after a near-stagnant showing by the UK services sector in June rounded off a "woeful" set of PMI readings for the country, the pound trailing lower as a result.Fresnillo was once again among the gainers as it tracked the price of gold higher, while J Sainsbury floundered at the bottom of the FTSE 100 after dispiriting first-quarter results.London's leading stock index was up 61.19 points, or 0.8%, at 7,620.38 Wednesday at midday, trading around its best levels since August 2018.The FTSE 250 was 125.68 points higher, or 0.6%, at 19,785.01, while the AIM All-Share was up 0.4% at 924.59.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.8% at 12,921.32. The Cboe UK 250 was 0.7% higher at 17,683.23, the Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.3% at 11,351.47."The FTSE has been an outperformer of late, with declines in the pound helping drive the internationally focused index higher. However, sterling bulls will hope for some form of stability after the third and final PMI survey was released," said Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG."No doubt this week has had a huge role in lowered growth expectations for Q3, with Carney laying out a more pessimistic outlook yesterday," continued Mahony. "Quite whether this slowdown will be enough to push the BoE into following the dovish lead of their eurozone and US counterparts remains to be seen."The latest IHS Markit and Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply survey showed the UK economy is likely to have contracted in the second quarter. The services Business Activity Index slipped to 50.2 in June, down from 51.0 in May and registering the lowest reading for three months. June's print was only just above the no-change mark of 50 which separates expansion from contraction.Subdued activity was often attributed to "sluggish" domestic economic conditions and greater risk aversion due to ongoing Brexit uncertainty, said IHS Markit."The near-stagnation of the services sector in June is one of the worst performances seen over the past decade and comes on the heels of steep declines in both manufacturing and construction," said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit."Collectively, the PMI surveys indicate that the economy has slipped into contraction for the first time since July 2016, suffering the second-steepest fall in output since the global financial crisis in April 2009," he said.The June PMI readings point to a 0.1% contraction in UK gross domestic product in the second quarter, Williamson added.On Monday, IHS Markit had reported the UK manufacturing PMI fell to 48.0 points in June from 49.4 in May, while saying on Tuesday the UK construction PMI dropped dramatically 43.1 points in June from 48.6 in May.ING called the week's releases "woeful". "Once the noise surrounding inventories begins to fade, the fact that new orders have ground to a halt in the service sector suggests that underlying economic momentum is unlikely to increase imminently," said ING. Sterling was quoted at USD1.2568 Wednesday midday, lower compared to USD1.2595 at the London equities close on Tuesday.In the eurozone, business activity improved slightly thanks to growth in services. The final eurozone Composite Output Index strengthened to 52.2 in June from 51.8 in May, also coming in slightly above the flash reading of 52.1.The eurozone services Business Activity Index rose to 53.6 from 52.9 in May, again above the flash reading of 53.4. The manufacturing score, released on Monday, fell to 47.6 points in June, weaker than both the 47.7 reported in May and the 47.8 indicated in the flash reading for June.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.7% and 0.8% respectively.In New York, stocks were pointed towards a session of mild gains with the Dow Jones Industrials and S&P 500 both called up 0.2% and the Nasdaq up 0.3%. In the US economic calendar, there are ADP employment at 1315 BST - a precusor to Friday's monthly jobs report - and the services PMI at 1445 BST. US markets will close early on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's Independence Day holiday.Dean Popplewell at Oanda said Wednesday's session in the US should be "very quiet" given the early close, with the highlight of the week being Friday's nonfarm payrolls. "Elsewhere, oil has come off its lows after an industry report showed a contraction in U.S crude stockpiles last week and gold rallied to print a one-week high helped by a 'subdued' dollar as renewed concerns over global trade encourages safe-haven demand," said Popplewell.An ounce of the precious metal was quoted at USD1,425.62 on Wednesday, up from USD1,399.05 late Tuesday. This prompted shares in Mexican gold miner Fresnillo to rise, up 3.3% as the firm tracked the price of the safe haven asset higher. Another riser in the FTSE 100 was JD Sports Fashion, up 2.9% after the footwear and apparel retailer said it expects to at least meet annual profit forecasts. JD Sports said it has continued to achieve "encouraging" like-for-like sales growth in the year-to-date, both in the UK and internationally.Looking ahead, JD Sports Chair Peter Cowgill said: "The board remains confident that the group continues to be on track to deliver headline profit before tax for the full year at least equal to current consensus market expectations."In the clearance aisle was J Sainsbury, down 1.2% as it languished at the bottom of the blue-chips, after supermarket chain's first-quarter trading update.Sainsbury's said like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, declined by 1.6% in the 16 weeks to last Saturday. Including fuel, like-for-like sales in the same period fell by 1.0%. For comparison, like-for-like sales excluding fuel in the period of Sainsbury's previous year, financial 2019, rose by 0.2%, and like-for-like sales including fuel were up by 2.6%.Total sales excluding fuel shrank by 1.2% in the recent period, with total sales including fuel falling by 0.6%. General merchandise sales declined by 3.1% and clothing sales dropped by 4.5% during the period. "The supermarket sector is still seeing competitive pressure, meaning the likes of Sainsbury are being forced to push prices down across core products. So while last year's strong performance makes this trading update harder reading, the real challenges are coming from the wider industry," commented Sophie Lund-Yates at Hargreaves Lansdown.In the FTSE 250, Sophos gained 10% after JPMorgan raised the cybersecurity firm to Overweight from Equal Weight. Unite Group was up 2.6% after agreeing to buy a portfolio of student accommodation worth over GBP2 billion from CPPIB. Liberty Living Holdings, fully-owned by the pension plan, has a portfolio comprising of 24,021 student beds, valued at GBP2.2 billion as of May 31.Unite is to pay GBP1.4 billion on a net asset value-for-net asset value basis, in a combination of cash and shares. The cash element will be worth GBP800 million, with the remaining GBP600 million in 72.6 million new Unite shares, which will represent 20% of the enlarged company.