(Alliance News) - Stocks continued to trade mostly lower at midday on Friday, as market focus remained on the US jobs report later in the day.Holding back the FTSE 100 were losses for housebuilders and miners, while the mid-cap index was dragged down by SIG, which reported a decline in first half revenue.London's leading stock index was down 14.27 points, or 0.2%, at 7,589.31 Friday at midday. The FTSE 250 was 78.67 points lower, or 0.4%, at 19,718.93, while the AIM All-Share was down 0.2% at 915.62.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.2% at 12,866.89. The Cboe UK 250 was 0.5% lower at 17,612.46 and the Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.2% at 11,385.82.UK house prices were largely stable in June, a Halifax report showed, and continued to show a "reasonable degree of resilience" despite a backdrop of uncertainty.On a monthly basis, house prices fell by 0.3%, while year-on-year, house prices were up 5.7%. Halifax noted that the annual figures come against a "particularly low growth rate" in June 2018. The average house price in June stood at GBP237,110.In May, house prices had risen 0.4% on a monthly basis and 5.2% annually. Halifax Managing Director Russell Galley said June's figures extend the "largely flat trend" observed over recent months."More generally the housing market is displaying a reasonable degree of resilience in the face of political and economic uncertainty. Recent industry figures show demand looking slightly more stable, with mortgage approvals ticking along just above the long-term average," said Galley.Sterling was quoted at USD1.2541 Friday midday, down compared to USD1.2564 at the London equities close on Thursday. The pound began the week trading near to the USD1.27 mark.On the LSE, Persimmon was the worst performer in the blue-chip index, down 2.8%, followed by Berkeley Group and Taylor Wimpey, both down 1.8%.Rio Tinto and Evraz, were down 2.7% and 2.1%, respectively, and Antogafasta was trading 1.9% lower. "House builders and mining companies are weighing on the FTSE, the latter sliding because of a drop in metals prices over the last few days, the former because of a 0.3% decline in UK house prices in June," said Cityindex Senior Market Analyst Fiona Cincotta. Among the mid-caps, broker ratings pushed energy services firm John Wood Group and exploration company Tullow Oil 3.9% and 1.5% higher, respectively. Berenberg raised John Wood rating to Buy from Hold, while Jefferies upped Tullow Oil also to Buy from Hold. Acacia Mining was 1.7% higher in midday trade as successful drilling at the Gokona mine in Tanzania allowed the gold miner to upgrade reserves.As of the end of May, the Gokona mine had 1.3 million ounces of gold reserves at a grade of 5.5 grams of gold per tonne of ore, 13% higher than before, though at a marginally lower grade. This, Acacia said, is due to drilling on the east and west extensions of Gokona in late 2018 and early 2019.This upgraded reserve estimate comes after, in mid-June, Acacia refuting Barrick Gold's criticism of Acacia's mining plans in Tanzania. Barrick owns 64% of Acacia and has offered USD285 million for the rest, though the two continue to bicker. On the other side of FTSE 250 index was SIG, down 4.8%. The supplier of building materials reported a 3.8% decline in its like-for-like revenue for the six months to the end of June.SIG saw a 13% fall in like-for-like revenue in the UK & Ireland, due to reduced level of construction activity. In Mainland Europe, however, SIG's like-for-like revenue in the first half was 3.3% higher year-on-year.In addition, SIG said it sold WeGo FloorTec in Germany to fellow London-listed building materials firm Kingspan Group. The transaction follows a review of SIG's peripheral businesses. There remains one further peripheral business under review in SIG's portfolio, it said.The WeGo FloorTec sale is expected to complete "shortly", the company said, and the proceeds of about GBP12 million from Kingspan are expected to be used to reduce headline financial leverage.Kingspan shares were down 2.2% on Friday midday. Spectris shares were trading 4.8% lower as Bank of America chopped its rating to Underperform from Buy. Victrex was also in the red, sinking 4.0% after Peel Hunt downgraded the polymers supplier to Hold from Add, reflecting the weaker macro-economic backdrop, particularly in Germany."For now, the near term risks outweigh the long-term growth potential," explained Peel Hunt analyst Dominic Convey.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were down 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively, in midday trade.The EU28's current account surplus grew marginally in the first quarter of 2019, Eurostat reported.The surplus was EUR40.5 billion, some 1.0% of gross domestic product, after EUR40.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018, which was also 1.0% of GDP.The first quarter 2019 figure of EUR40.5 billion compares to EUR58.3 billion year-on-year, which was 1.5% of GDP.Having closed at record highs on Wednesday, New York stocks were pointed towards a lower open, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both called down 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrials 0.1% lower. Financial markets in the US were closed for Independence Day on Thursday.In the US economic calendar, there is jobs report for June at 1330 BST. "The main focus for today will be the June payrolls report which has the potential to bake in even further the prospect of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve at the end of the month. Wages as well as the headline number will be the key arbiters, though in terms of expectation the markets have already got a rate cut priced in which means that a good number could prompt a sharp sell off if investors perceive that a rate cut has become less likely," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
UK dividends calendar - next 7 days
Monday 6 May | |
no events scheduled | |
Tuesday 7 May | |
Begbies Traynor Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Ferguson PLC | dividend payment date |
Manchester & London Investment Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Mobius Investment Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Nexus Infrastructure PLC | dividend payment date |
Pebble Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Pinewood Technologies Group PLC | special dividend payment date |
Thungela Resources Ltd | dividend payment date |
Volution Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Wednesday 8 May | |
Melrose Industries PLC | dividend payment date |
Personal Group Holdings PLC | dividend payment date |
Thursday 9 May | |
Admiral Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
AG Barr PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Aurora Investment Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Balanced Commercial Property Trust Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
Bank of Ireland Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Bellevue Healthcare Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Braime Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Centaur Media PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Chenavari Toro Income Fund Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
Clarkson PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Custodian Property Income REIT PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
CVC Income & Growth Ltd EURO | ex-dividend payment date |
CVC Income & Growth Ltd GBP | ex-dividend payment date |
Domino's Pizza Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Epwin Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
F&C Investment Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Fidelity Special Values PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Focusrite PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Grafton Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Gresham Technologies PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Headlam Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Henderson International Income Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
HSBC Holdings PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Ibstock PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Cos Investment Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
JPMorgan Global Core Real Assets Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
Lancashire Holdings Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
LSL Property Services PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
M&C Saatchi PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
M&G PLC | dividend payment date |
Macfarlane Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Marwyn Value Investors Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
Midwich Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Montanaro UK Smaller Cos Investments Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Octopus Titan VCT PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
One Media iP Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Petershill Partners PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Picton Property Income Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
PRS REIT PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Reach PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Sherborne Investors Guernsey C Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
Sthree PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Sylvania Platinum Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
Taylor Maritime Investments Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
Tracsis PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Travis Perkins PLC | dividend payment date |
UIL Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
Friday 10 May | |
AIB Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Alpha Group International PLC | dividend payment date |
Antofagasta PLC | dividend payment date |
Hammerson PLC | dividend payment date |
Hunting PLC | dividend payment date |
International Personal Finance PLC | dividend payment date |
Invesco Select Trust Global Equity Income PLC | dividend payment date |
Invesco Select Trust UK Equity PLC | dividend payment date |
Johnson Service Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Kerry Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Schroder Asian Total Return Inv Co PLC | dividend payment date |
Schroder European Real Estate Investments Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd | dividend payment date |
Serco Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Smurfit Kappa Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Somero Enterprises Inc | special dividend payment date |
Taylor Wimpey PLC | dividend payment date |
Tufton Oceanic Assets Ltd | dividend payment date |
VPC Specialty Lending Investments PLC | dividend payment date |
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