Sirius Minerals Share News (SXX)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended mixed on Wednesday as investors took a cautious stance ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement at 1900 BST.The FTSE 100 index closed down 32.96 points, or 0.4% at 7,385.26. The FTSE 250 ended down 11.07 points at 19,813.74, and the AIM All-Share closed up 1.34 points, or 0.1% at 970.24.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.5% at 12,522.37, the Cboe UK 250 closed flat at 17,757.89, while the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.2% at 11,722.11."All eyes are on the FOMC this evening, with Chair Jerome Powell largely expected to provide a relatively neutral tone once more. Worries over the downward trajectory of inflation had pushed calls for a more dovish tone from the FOMC, yet as the recent GDP and ADP figures have shown, the US economy is certainly in a decent enough position to warrant staying still on rates for now," said IG Group's Josh Mahony. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but investors are likely to keep a close eye on the accompanying statement and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's subsequent press conference."We are more dovish than investors about the prospects for Fed policy, as we are anticipating three 25 basis points of rate cuts by the end of 2020. But that is because we expect US growth to slow below its potential pace and inflation to moderate. Against that backdrop, corporate earnings in the US will probably come under more pressure," said analysts at Capital Economics. Financial markets in Europe were closed for the Labour Day holiday. On the London Stock Exchange, J Sainsbury ended as the best blue chip performer, up 3.9%, after the supermarket chain rebounded from the disappointment of its aborted merger with Walmart Inc-owned Asda by delivering annual earnings which beat market expectations.The company reported pretax profit of GBP239 million for the 52 weeks to March 9, down 42% from GBP409 million a year earlier, due to an increase in administrative expenses to GBP1.73 billion from GBP1.42 billion.Underlying pretax profit came in at GBP635 million, up from GBP589 million a year ago and beating market expectations. Analysts had expected underlying pretax profit for financial 2019 to be GBP626 million.Sainsbury's proposed a final dividend of 7.9 pence a share, bringing the total payout for the year to 11.0p, up 7.8% year-on-year. Consensus had expected an annual dividend of 10.5p.Interactive Investor's Richard Hunter said: "Not surprisingly, Sainsbury is endeavouring to give an upbeat outlook to its new plans. Indeed, there are positives within the statement. A clear success was the purchase of Argos, which is now fully integrated and has delivered GBP160 million in synergies ahead of plan. The underlying pretax profit figure rose by nearly 8% and was ahead of expectations." "In addition, net debt was significantly reduced with the promise of much more to come. In the meantime, a healthy cash flow situation has enabled an increase to the dividend, which will consolidate the current attractive yield of 4.6% and the return on capital employed inched higher."London Stock Exchange Group closed up 3.4%, after the stock exchange operator reported an increase in first quarter revenue, seeing growth from its two largest divisions - Information Services and Post Trade Services. In the three months to March 31, the clearing operator and calculator of market indices saw its total revenue increase 3.4% to GBP486 million from GBP470 million the previous year. The company's total income increased 5.0% to GBP546 million. LSE's gross profit in the first quarter increased 5.6% to GBP490 million from GBP464 million in the corresponding period a year earlier.At the other end of the large cap index, Just Eat closed down 2.7%, after JPMorgan double downgraded the online takeaway platform to Underweight from Overweight.The US bank cited Just Eat's over reliance on the UK takeaway market as a reason for the downgrade.Oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and Shell 'B' shares closed down 1.3%, 1.5% and 1.4%, tracking spot oil prices lower.Brent oil was quoted at USD71.40 a barrel at the London equities close, down from USD72.10 at the close Tuesday, after US inventory build data contributed to the uncertain supply picture in the oil market. The Energy Information Administration reported a substantial build in crude oil inventories, at 9.93 million barrels for the last week of April. Consensus estimates anticipated a 1.48 million build. In the FTSE 250, Ferrexpo ended the best performer, up 9.3% after Liberum raised the iron pellet producer to Buy from Hold. The broker said Ferrexpo's share price fall of 31% over the past two weeks amid concerns about potential management involvement in the possible misuse of funds from charity Blooming Land are "overdone".At the other end of the midcaps, Sirius Minerals ended the worst performer, down 7.1% at 16.18p after the fertiliser firm raised more than originally envisaged, though shares were offered at a sharp discount.Sirius on Tuesday announced a USD3.8 million funding package to develop its Woodsmith polyhalite mine in Yorkshire, and this included a placing, firm placing, and open offer, worth up to USD400 million, at between 15 pence and 18p a share. Sirius has managed to raise USD425 million, due to high demand, with shares placed at 15p. This is a 32% discount to Sirius' closing price on Monday in London, and the 1.96 billion new shares represent some 28% of its share capital. Moreover, a further 218.0 million shares were placed in the open offer at the same price. Under the open offer, Sirius will hand over one new share per every 22 existing shares held. The pound was quoted at USD1.3090 at the London equities close, higher than USD1.3029 at the close Tuesday.In economic news, UK manufacturing expansion slowed to a two-month low in April amid a decline in export business and an easing in the robust pace of stock-building, survey data from IHS Markit showed.The IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, fell to 53.1 in April from March's 13-month high of 55.1. The score was in line with economists' expectations.A PMI reading above 50 suggests growth in the sector.On the political front, UK Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs she hopes "a deal can be done" with Labour to find a consensus Brexit deal which can command a majority in Parliament.Giving evidence to the House of Commons Liaison Committee, May said the talks were "constructive and meaningful". Moreover, the "only acceptable" resolution to the Brexit impasse would be for a deal which allows the UK to leave the EU with a negotiated Withdrawal Agreement in place, the PM added."Brexit optimism lifted the pound; cross party talks are reportedly going well and Theresa May hinted that a customs union compromise could be on the cards. The fact that May is intending to conclude the talks mid next week suggests that the two sides are close to sealing a deal. Suddenly a Brexit agreement being pushed through Parliament before the toxic European elections doesn't look so farfetched," said City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta. The euro stood at USD1.1245 at the European equities close, against USD1.1206 late Tuesday.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close amid positive results from Apple after the iPhone maker reported second quarter results that beat analyst estimates and provided upbeat guidance.The DJIA was up 0.2%, the S&P 500 index up 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.3%.Apple's second-quarter profit dropped to USD11.56 billion or USD2.46 per share from USD13.82 billion or USD2.73 per share last year. Apple's revenue dropped 5% to USD58.02 billion from last year's USD61.14 billion. Analysts had a consensus revenues prediction of USD57.37 billion.Apple shares were up 6.3% in New York. Gold was quoted at USD1,281.80 an ounce at the London equities close, slightly lower than USD1,283.68 late Tuesday.The economic events calendar on Thursday has manufacturing PMI data from Italy, France, Germany and the eurozone at 0845 BST, 0850 BST, 0855 BST and 0900 BST. At 0930 BST there is the UK construction PMI reading. The UK corporate calendar on Thursday has first-quarter results from oil major Royal Dutch Shell, fund manager Schroders, soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola HBC, medical devices maker Smith & Nephew, bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair, household goods maker Reckitt Benckiser and high street bank Lloyds Banking Group.