Sirius Minerals Share News (SXX)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Trade was cautious on Thursday with the FTSE 100 dipping in and out of the red as investors continue to monitor US trade developments.Delegations from the US and Canada resumed trade talks in Washington on Wednesday after intense marathon negotiations broke down last week without result.The continuation of talks come after US President Donald Trump over the weekend warned there was "no political necessity" to keep Canada in the new North American Free Trade Agreement deal.Meanwhile, a spokesman for China's Commerce Ministry said on Thursday it will retaliate if Trump goes ahead and enacts tariffs on USD200 billion worth of Chinese imports. The US could decide to impose the tariffs, which would hit about 40% of the total amount of Chinese imports to the US, after a public comment period ends on Thursday."If any of this comes to fruition this afternoon, then the tenor of trading could change pretty quickly," commented Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.Centrica was the best performer in the FTSE 100 on Thursday as new price cap proposals from the UK's industry regulator removed some uncertainty, while Melrose Industries gained as its acquisition of GKN got off to a good start.The FTSE 100 was down 0.1%, or 10.65 points, at 7,372.63 Thursday midday. The FTSE 250 was also 0.1% lower, or 27.37 points, at 20,361.10 and the AIM All-Share flat at 1,102.14.The Cboe UK 100 was off 0.2% at 12,489.66 and the Cboe UK 250 down 0.1% at 18,473.22. The Cboe UK Small Companies was 0.1% lower at 12,214.77.The CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.3% Thursday midday, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was 0.1% higher.Markets in the US are pointed towards a modestly higher open on Thursday, with the Dow Jones called up 0.2% and both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 seen 0.1% higher.To come in the economic calendar on Thursday is US ADP employment change at 1315 BST and continuing and initial jobless claims at 1330 BST, all a precursor to the closely-watched nonfarm payrolls on Friday.Also on Thursday from the US is the Markit services PMI at 1445 BST and factory orders at 1500 BST.The best performer in London's FTSE 100 at midday was British Gas parent Centrica, up 5.3%, while peer SSE rose 1.7% despite energy regulator the Office of Gas & Electricity Markets proposing a price cap.Ofgem believes customers on the most expensive tariffs would save over GBP120 a year on its proposed GBP1,136 per year price cap, whilst customers on "poor value" default deals could save GBP75 a year on average. In total, Ofgem expects the cap to save UK consumers around GBP1 billion.While Ofgem has "shown its teeth", commented AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould, it has "not bitten quite as hard" as it could.Mould continued: "Its report now means that the utilities - and investors - know exactly where they stand and, as the biggest two suppliers in the retail UK electricity market, Centrica and SSE may be particularly relieved." Melrose Industries gained 5.0% as it reporting its interim results, finding "no black holes" in acquired engineer GKN.For the six months to the end of June, Melrose recorded a pretax loss of GBP303 million, compared with pretax profit of GBP48 million in the year ago period, on a revenue of GBP2.94 billion and GBP1.09 billion, respectively.Acquisition and disposal costs totalled GBP71 million, up sharply from GBP2 million a year ago. Restructuring and other associated costs arising from changes in business strategy totalled GBP128 million versus GBP25 million.Stripping out acquisition and other exceptional costs, pretax profit rose to GBP240 million from GBP131 million. On a pro-forma basis, including GKN for the entire six-month period, Melrose reported pretax profit of GBP401 million on revenue of GBP6.20 billion.Go-Ahead motored to the top of the FTSE 250, up 16% at midday as annual profit rose.For the year to the end of June, Go-Ahead recorded a pretax profit of GBP145.7 million, up from GBP136.8 million in the same period a year ago, though revenue dipped to GBP3.46 billion from GBP3.48 billion. The company recorded an exceptional gain of GBP25.1 million in the year due to a change in the valuation of its pension liabilities.Operating profit in the rail division fell 26% to GBP44.5 million from GBP59.9 million compared to last year, in part due to expiry of the London Midland franchise in December 2017.In second place was Bovis Homes as it gained 4.6% on a boosted payout and sharp rise in interim profit.For the first six months of the year, revenue grew 1% to GBP432.2 million but pretax profit shot up 41% to GBP60.2 million. Improved margins helped to push up profit, the gross margin rising 280 basis points year-on-year to 20.9%.The company declared an interim dividend of 19p, up 27% on last year's 15p and, in addition, declared a special dividend of 45p. Sirius Minerals slumped 10% to be the worst performer at midday on Thursday as it upped its funding estimate for its North Yorkshire Polyhalite project.The mining company signed a design and build contract with STRABAG, with STRABAG constructing drives 2 and 3 of its mineral transport system between Woodsmith Mine and Lockwood Beck. The costs of this contract will be higher than the estimate produced by the company's 2016 feasibility study.Sirius said its stage 2 funding requirement estimate has now increased by between USD400 million and USD600 million.Shares in Weir Group declined 6.2% after the oil and gas-focused engineer said there was a "considerable softening" in demand for original equipment during August, and some order book deliveries had been deferred.