Sirius Minerals Share News (SXX)

(Alliance News) - Stocks in Europe were staging a slight recovery on Tuesday after the previous session's heavy losses, with trade war fears easing for now despite the US branding China a currency manipulator. The FTSE 100 was underperforming mainland Europe as oil majors and Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000 jet engine issues weighed on the index, but the mid-cap FTSE 250 index rose despite a sell-off of Sirius Minerals shares.The large-cap index was just 4.38 points, or 0.1%, higher at 7,228.23 on Tuesday at midday. The FTSE 100 shed 2.5% on Monday after the yuan weakened against the dollar.The FTSE 250 index was up 140.10 points, or 0.7%, at 19,011.52 on Tuesday, while the AIM All-Share was down 0.1% at 906.09.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.1% at 12,252.58. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.8% at 16,957.23, while the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 10,984.02.In Paris, the CAC 40 was up 0.9% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.6% in early afternoon trade on the continent. Equities in Europe were enjoying a minor rebound on Tuesday after substantial losses on Monday, sparked by the Chinese currency slipped below the key CNY7 level to the dollar. This led to the US Treasury Department labeling China a currency manipulator. The US has not put China on the currency blacklist since 1994, and the designation could pave the way for more sanctions against China.US President Donald Trump had gone on Twitter to denounce China's move as "currency manipulation", adding: "This is a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time."Asian markets dropped in response, but European stocks bounced on Tuesday."The reason for this modest stabilisation appears to have been the decision by the Peoples Bank of China to fix the yuan higher than expected, in this latest game of trade war cat and mouse," said Michael Hewson at CMC Markets."It would appear that the Chinese are sending a message in its decision to fix the yuan higher than expected. In pulling the yuan higher it is not only looking to manage any decline, but also looking to contain any damage in terms of confidence in their stewardship of the Chinese currency and economy," Hewson commented. However, he added: "This move by China may have brought investors a brief respite after several days of selling but it remains to be seen whether today's move is emblematic of a short term base, or just merely the precursor to a dead cat bounce."Equities on Wall Street are on course for an upbeat start, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both called up 1.0%, while the Nasdaq Composite was seen 1.3% higher. The Dow had fallen 2.9% and the S&P 3.0% on Monday.The FTSE 100 was lagging behind peers in mainland Europe, as Rolls-Royce Holdings and InterContinental Hotels Group weighed on the index. In addition, oil majors posted another day of losses as Brent slipped below the USD60 mark amid the US-China trade spat.Rolls-Royce was down 1.7% despite reporting solid interim revenue growth, as it tweaked its Trent 1000 charge forecasts.Revenue for the six months to June climbed 5% to GBP7.88 billion, with the pretax loss shrinking to GBP791 million from GBP1.23 billion a year before. Organic revenue growth was 7%. Rolls-Royce's core underlying operating profit rose 22% to GBP203 million, and at a group level, was up 32%.Rolls-Royce has had a number of operating problems recently, including faster-than-expected deterioration of its Trent 1000 TEN engine blades. Customer disruption "regretfully" is still ongoing, Rolls-Royce said Tuesday, though progress is being made.The firm now expects the 2019 impact of the Trent 1000 issues to be GBP450 million to GBP500 million, from GBP450 million previously. More costs related to the Trent 1000 issues will be "far from welcome", said George Salmon at Hargreaves Lansdown."These serve as a timely reminder that Rolls-Royce remains an extremely complex business in transition. However, those same complexities mean a few unwanted distractions in these results shouldn't come as too much of a surprise," said Salmon.Holiday Inn owner IHG slipped 0.8% after reporting a sharp rise in profit in the first half but warned of a "slower growth environment" and modest RevPar growth.In the six months to June 30, the hotel owner and operator's pretax profit jumped 25% to USD375 million from USD301 million the year before. The company's total revenue was up 8.1% to USD2.28 billion from USD2.11 billion the year before.InterContinental Hotels said group comparable revenue per available room, or RevPAR, in the first half increased 0.1%. In the Americas as a whole it also increased by 0.1%. It was flat in the US, however, which was attributed to occupancy demand falling in the second quarter due to the higher comparative demand created by hurricanes in the first half of last year.Also in the red were oil firms, with BP down 0.9% while both Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and 'B' shares slipped 1.6%. Brent was quoted at USD59.94 at midday, versus USD60.54 late Monday.The FTSE 250 index by contrast powered ahead, helped by gains for Rotork and Meggitt. Rotork, up 8.2%, said it expects further margin progression in 2019."Whilst macroeconomic uncertainty remains, with recent order intake and the momentum of our Growth Acceleration Programme, we now expect to deliver flat sales on an organic constant currency basis in 2019, with full-year adjusted operating margins showing clear progress year-on-year," said Chief Executive Officer Kevin Hostetler. In 2018, organic constant currency revenue was up 11% and adjusted operating margins stood at 21.0%. Meggitt, meanwhile, was up 5.2% after the defence engineer upgraded its annual revenue guidance following a solid performance from core business in the first six months of the year. For 2019, Meggitt now sees organic revenue growth at between 4% to 6%, following better-than-expected interim trading and a strong order book. Revenue in 2018 was GBP2.08 billion.For the first half of 2019, Meggitt's revenue growth was 12%, and 9% organically, to GBP1.07 billion, with orders rising 10% reported and 7% organically to GBP1.07 billion. Both the firms were helping to offset Sirius Minerals's 24% slide after the fertilizer firm pulled a note offer. Sirius announced the debt offering in July to secure funding for its Woodsmith polyhalite mine in Yorkshire, and it was part of the second stage of financing for construction and development of the project.However, on Tuesday, Sirius said it has suspended the USD500 million secured notes offering due to "current market conditions".