Sirius Minerals Share News (SXX)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Despite a strong start, London stocks had slipped into the red by midday on Wednesday ahead of the latest interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve. The FTSE 100 was down 9.23 points, or 0.1%, at 7,408.99 Tuesday midday, having traded as high as 7,446.46 in early dealings. The FTSE 250 index was down 5.60 points at 19,819.21, while the AIM All-Share was up 0.4% at 973.05.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.2% at 12,593.46. The Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 17,802.95. The Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.2% at 11,673.56.Markets in German, Italy, Spain and France are closed on Wednesday for the Labour Day holiday, as had been those in China and Japan."With most of continental Europe and Asia closed for the May 1 bank holiday, trading ranges have been tightly contained with thin liquidity as we wait for the main event for today - the Federal Open Market Committee monetary policy announcement," said Dean Popplewell at Oanda.Stocks in the US are on course for a strong start ahead of the decision, helped by upbeat earnings from iPhone maker Apple overnight. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 are both called up 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is set to gain 0.8%.Nasdaq-stock Apple - trading 5% higher pre-market - said late Tuesday that second-quarter profit dropped to USD11.56 billion or USD2.46 per share from USD13.82 billion or USD2.73 per share last year. Revenue fell 5% to USD58.02 billion from last year's USD61.14 billion. Analysts had a consensus revenues prediction of USD57.37 billion.Apple's revenue from iPhones dropped to USD31.05 billion from USD37.56 billion last year. However, iPhone revenue were above analysts' estimates of USD30.5 billion.In the US economic calendar, ADP employment is at 1315 BST, a precursor to Friday's closely-watched nonfarm payrolls report. Then, at 1500 BST, is the ISM manufacturing PMI.Headlining the day, however, is the US Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision, due at 1900 BST and followed by a press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell at 1930 BST."We expect the Fed to keep policy unchanged and remain in wait-and-see mode after its recent shift towards a more dovish policy stance, including a signal for no rate change this year," said Lloyds Banking.In UK economic data, manufacturing growth in April slipped from March's 13-month high amid lower levels of Brexit stockpiling. The seasonally-adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 53.1 in April from 55.1 in March, though remained above the line of 50 which separates expansion from contraction.The main theme in UK manufacturing in recent months has been Brexit stockpiling, IHS Markit said, a trend which largely continued into April. However, the delay to the UK's departure date from the EU meant that stockpiling activity eased.Capital Economics said the fall back was as expected, and suggests output will stagnate after the first quarter. "The upshot is that while Q1 has been better than the underlying trend, a hangover from Brexitpreparations will weigh on GDP growth in Q2," said Capital Economics. In London equities at midday, J Sainsbury shares rose 3.7% on a consensus-beating set of annual results. Revenue for the year to March 9 rose to GBP29.0 billion from GBP28.46 billion, though pretax profit fell to GBP239 million from GBP409 million. Like-for-like sales slipped 0.2%.The company was hit by GBP396 million in charges in the year, with GBP46 million of this comprising costs related to its aborted Asda takeover. Another GBP81 million was restructuring costs and GBP40 million Argos integration expenses.On an underlying basis, pretax profit rose 7.8% to GBP635 million. This was slightly above market consensus of GBP626 million.Sainsbury's did not comment further on the Asda deal, which was blocked by the UK competition regulator last week."Sainsbury's results are nowhere near as bad as many people had expected. Despite a backdrop of weak sales flagged by market researcher Kantar and ongoing operational issues with countless examples of stores with empty shelves, the supermarket has delivered full-year results ahead of market forecasts," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ BellHe added: "These latest financial results might go some way to explaining why chief executive Mike Coupe wasn't given the boot when the Asda deal flopped."London Stock Exchange Group was up 2.1% after reporting an increase in first quarter revenue on Wednesday, seeing growth from its two largest divisions - Information Services and Post Trade Services.In the three months to March 31, the stock exchange, 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.Lloyds Banking was up 1.1% after revising its common equity tier one ratio target down following the new systemic risk buffer rates released by UK regulators.Starting from 2019, the UK Prudential Regulation Authority is required to set capital "buffer" rates for ring-fenced banks and large building societies.As part of that framework, starting from January 1, the PRA set has set a buffer rate for the UK's ring-fenced banks of 2% of risk-weighted assets for Lloyds, 1.5% for Royal Bank of Scotland Group, and 1% for Barclays and HSBC Holdings.Lloyds responded by saying the 200 basis point buffer, which equates to 170 basis points at a group level, is below its own previous guidance of 210 basis points. This frees up cash that potentially could be returned to shareholders.Just Eat, meanwhile, slumped 2.5% as JPMorgan double-downgraded the online takeaway platform to Underweight from Overweight. Also among the losers was housebuilder Persimmon, dipping 2.0% as it revealed a slower sales rate. Persimmon said it current forward sales position is strong, with revenue, including legal completions take to date in 2019, of GBP2.70 billion.The company's weekly private sales rate per site since the start of the year is down 5%, however. The average private selling price has been firm at GBP237,850 versus GBP236,500 a year ago.In the FTSE 250, Spirent Communications gained 1.5% as it said the year has started well with first-quarter earnings growth. The communications equipment firm said trading in the three months to the end of March was in line with plan, as revenue and earnings grew compared to the first quarter of 2018.In addition, the order pipeline remains robust and order intake for the period showed solid growth on the prior year, Spirent noted. Sirius Minerals tumbled 7.3% at 16.14 pence, adding to Tuesday's 20% slump on its fundraising plans. 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.The miner on Wednesday said it managed to raise more than originally planned, though shares were offered at a sharp discount.Sirius raised 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. A further 218.0 million shares were placed in the open offer at the same price.