Taylor Wimpey Share News (TW.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London were lower at midday on Tuesday with housebuilders in the red, as a positive outcome from the historic US-North Korea summit failed to boost investor sentiment. The FTSE 100 index was down 0.3%, or 24.87 points, at 7,712.56 at midday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 0.2%, or 48.28 points, at 21,270.49. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.1% at 1,107.37.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 13,077.06, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.2% at 19,438.51, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.1% at 12,910.70."The Singapore summit with US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un went very smoothly and provided some optimism that a long-term peaceful solution can be found between the two countries," said Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam."The lack of a response though may be a reflection of the fact that the agreement still lacks some detail and given the unpredictable and volatile nature of the two leaders, there's no guarantee that it won't run into significant difficulties. Still, progress is important which makes today a big success." US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula" in a joint agreement on Tuesday, as they wrapped up a historic day that saw both leaders meeting for the first time.In exchange, Trump committed to provide "security guarantees" to North Korea at the summit in a luxury hotel on Singapore's Sentosa island.In the four-point document, the US and North Korea committed to establishing new US-North Korea relations, building a stable and lasting peace regime and reaffirming the Panmunjeom declaration from April 27.North Korea also pledged to recover the remains of prisoners of the 1950 to 1953 Korean War, including the "immediate repatriations of those already identified".On the London Stock Exchange, Centrica was the best blue chip performer at midday up 2.2% after Jefferies upgraded the British Gas parent to Buy from Hold. Jefferies analysts suggested that the upcoming energy price cap in the UK won't be highly punitive and can be managed by the 'Big Six' energy supplier.Conversely, housebuilder Crest Nicholson reported weak half year results which weighed on large cap rivals and dragged the blue chip index lower.Crest Nicholson was the worst performer in the FTSE 250 after the housebuilder reported a 2% drop in pretax profit for the six months ended April 30 to GBP74.8 million from GBP76.2 million year-on-year. Headline gross margins for the period were at 23.6%, down from 26.3% the prior year due to flat pricing amid a backdrop of build cost inflation at 3% to 4%. Crest Nicholson said it expects operating margins for the full year at around 18%, lower compared to last year at 20.3%. This is at the bottom range of Crest Nicholson's guidance range of 18% to 20%.FTSE 100 housebuilders Barratt Developments, Berkeley Group, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon were down 2.7%, 2.6%, 1.7% and 1.6% respectively. Mid-cap firms Redrow was down 3.1%, Bellway 2.7% lower and Bovis Homes Group down 2.9%."Housebuilders have taken a hit this morning after Crest Nicholson sounded a warning on cost inflation. The read-across to the rest of the sector should see some estimates for growth trimmed and 2017's outperformance in share price terms is unlikely to be repeated, thanks to higher costs and slower growth in house prices," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.Domino's Pizza was the second worst FTSE 250 performer, down 5.5%, after the pizza chain announced the resignation of Chief Financial Officer Rachel Osborne and said that it has commenced a search for her successor. Osborne's resignation was effective from Monday and the company did not give any specific details regarding her departure. The company also reiterated its earnings outlook given in March and remains confident regarding its performance in 2018 and beyond.Ted Baker was down 4.9% after the high street fashion retailer said revenue increased by 4.2% for the 19-week period from January 28 to June 9 compared with the same period a year ago. "This performance was achieved despite the impact of unseasonal weather across Europe and the East Coast of America in the early part of the period and, as previously reported, external trading conditions remaining challenging across many of our global markets," the company said. Sterling was firm against the dollar quoted at USD1.3397 at midday, against USD1.3382 at the London equities close on Monday, after positive UK unemployment data.The UK unemployment rate remained unchanged at the lowest level since 1975, the Office for National Statistics reported.The ILO jobless rate remained at 4.2% in the three months ended April, but down from 4.6% a year ago. This was the joint lowest since 1975. At the same time, the employment rate was 75.6%, higher than for a year earlier and the joint highest since comparable records began in 1971.Average earnings of employees including bonuses increased 2.5% from last year, while earnings excluding bonuses advanced 2.8% in three months to April."The lack of reaction to the jobs data may be because of the week's macro-economic and political heft, with Wednesday's US Federal Reserve meeting and the latest Brexit vote in the House of Commons still to come," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.Elsewhere, the UK government will begin debating and voting on the Lords amendments to the Brexit bill later on Tuesday as UK Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a ministerial resignation ahead of the crunch vote in the House of Commons.Remain-supporting Phillip Lee quit as justice minister, saying "if Brexit is worth doing, then it is certainly worth doing well" and it is "irresponsible to proceed as we are".He said his main objection to government policy was over the "wish to limit Parliament's role in contributing to the final outcome" - the so-called meaningful vote amendment.His shock departure came as Brexit Minister David Davis warned potential Tory rebels that they cannot undo the EU referendum, ahead of a tricky 48 hours in which the government will try to get its Brexit programme back on track.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.3% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.1%.The euro was slightly lower against the dollar quoted at USD1.1797 at midday, against USD1.1803 at the European equities close Monday.In the US, the DJIA was called down 0.2%, while the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite were set to open down 0.1%. Still to come in the economic events calendar, the two-day US Federal Open Market Committee meeting starts, concluding on Wednesday. Also, the US inflation reading for May is due at 1330 BST.