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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London ended higher on Tuesday as investor optimism grew ahead of a speech by US President Donald Trump in New York, which could offer clarity on US trade disputes with China and Europe.
The UK large-cap index closed up 36.90 points, or 0.5%, at 7,365.44. The FTSE 250 ended up 17.14 points, or 0.1%, at 20,427.17, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.1% at 890.19.
The Cboe UK 100 index finished up 0.7% at 12,503.11. The Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.1% at 18,350.75, and the Cboe UK Small Companies ended flat at 11,288.37.
In Paris the CAC 40 index ended up 0.4%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt added 0.7%.
In New York at the London close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%, the S&P 500 index up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.5%. A rise in technology stocks drove the S&P and Nasdaq indices to fresh record highs on Tuesday,
Trump's lunchtime speech to the Economic Club of New York will be closely followed by investors with a Wednesday deadline for the US to decide whether to impose tariffs on European cars. This would add a new front to US trade wars as investors anxiously await a deal with China.
"Markets have been relatively calm as they await the next spark from Donald Trump, with the president due to make an appearance at the Economic Club of New York. For all the self-lauding Trump will likely engage in on the US economic picture, markets will instead look for any updates on the move towards a 'phase one' trade deal with the Chinese," said IG Group analyst Josh Mahony.
"The confidence we have recently seen over a potential breakthrough appears to be faltering, with questions over the contents and timing of a phase one deal varying from one day to the next," Mahony added.
In the FTSE 100, AVEVA ended up 3.5%. The engineering software firm expressed confidence for the future following a swing to profit in the first half of its current financial year.
AVEVA reported pretax profit of GBP24.0 million for the six months to the end of September compared with GBP5.5 million loss a year ago, as revenue rose by 17% to GBP391.9 million from GBP336.5 million. Organic constant currency revenue grew by 12%. AVEVA explained that it benefited from business integration and actions taken to optimise performance.
AVEVA increased its interim dividend by 11% to 15.5 pence a share from the 14.0p it paid a year earlier.
Vodafone closed up 3.1% after the telecommunications firm lifted its annual guidance and reported a narrowed interim loss.
In the six months to September 30, revenue edged 0.4% higher year-on-year to EUR21.94 billion from EUR21.85 billion. The FTSE 100 firm registered a pretax loss of EUR511 million, slimmed from EUR2.85 billion last year.
First half adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation rose 2.7% year-on-year to EUR7.11 billion from EUR6.92 billion.
Vodafone now expects full-year adjusted Ebitda in a range of EUR14.8 billion to EUR15.0 billion, up from previous guidance of between EUR13.8 billion and EUR14.2 billion.
At the other end of the large cap index, DCC ended the worst performer, down 6.2%. The Irish support services firm said profit in the first half of its current financial year was hurt by exceptional costs, but it still expects to deliver annual results in line with market forecasts.
DCC reported pretax profit of GBP57.6 million for the six months to September 30, down by a third compared to GBP85.9 million a year ago, as revenue slid by 1.4% to GBP7.31 billion from GBP7.42 billion. On a constant currency basis, revenue fell by 1.7%.
In the FTSE 250, Oxford Instruments ended the best performer, up 9.5%. The medical instruments maker said pretax profit for the six months to the end of September grew by 55% to GBP18.0 million from GBP11.6 million, as revenue climbed by 13% to GBP166.3 million from GBP147.0 million.
Electrocomponents ended the worst mid-cap performer, down 11% after the electrical parts distributor reported a fall in interim profit.
For the six months ended September, pretax profit narrowed 4.3% to GBP89.0 million from GBP93.0 million the year prior. This was despite revenue rising 7.3% to GBP978.7 million from GBP911.8 million the year before.
In addition, Peel Hunt cut the stock to Hold from Add.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2841 at the London equities close, lower than USD1.2867 at the close Monday, following mixed UK unemployment data.
The headline UK unemployment rate came in at 3.8% for the July to September period, down from 3.9% last quarter and 0.2 percentage point lower than a year earlier.
However, UK wage growth saw the second consecutive month of slowdown as earnings remained marginally below their pre-financial crisis peak.
Total pay continued to grow much faster than inflation, but the rate of growth slowed to 3.6% from 3.8% growth reported last month. Analysts had anticipated growth would stay constant at 3.8%.
Michael McLaughlin, head of employment practice at DWF commented: "The jobs market has thus far been resistant to the ongoing uncertainty caused by the unresolved Brexit situation and related political instability. On one analysis this is perhaps because we have been living so long with the shadow of Brexit that businesses and the public sector have become relatively comfortable in not making any material decisions about right sizing their workforces to take account of a possible economic downturn.
"This tends to further highlight that no-one can really predict the impact on the UK economy of any form of Brexit and people are simply holding their breaths and waiting to see what happens. That said the economy has slowed and so has growth in wages underlining that the ongoing uncertainty is causing the economy to stagnate which is something that will eventually have a negative impact on employment figures."
The euro stood at USD1.1011 at the European equities close, lower than USD1.1031 late Monday.
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY109.20, higher than JPY109.05 late Monday.
Brent oil was quoted at USD62.25 a barrel at the London equities close, down from USD62.58 at the close Monday.
Gold was quoted at USD1,452.00 an ounce, flat against USD1,452.20 late Monday.
The economic events calendar on Wednesday has inflation readings from Germany, the UK and the US at 0700 GMT, 0930 GMT and 1330 GMT respectively.
The UK corporate calendar on Wednesday has interim results from property company British Land, energy provider SSE, and home phone and broadband provider TalkTalk Telecom Group. There are also first-quarter earnings from engineer Smiths Group and pub chain JD Wetherspoon.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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