LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE Outpaces Peers As Pounds Slides After UK PMI

(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 powered ahead of peers in mainland Europe and New York on Tuesday as the pound tumbled following worrying UK construction data and a warning from the Bank of England over simmering global trade tensions.The FTSE 100 index closed up 61.69 points, or 0.8%, at 7,559.19. The FTSE 250 ended up 24.67 points, or 0.1%, at 19,659.33 and the AIM All-Share closed up 2.92 points, or 0.3%, at 920.53.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.8% at 12,825.66, the Cboe UK 250 closed flat at 17,556.63, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.3% at 11,319.30."It was a quiet Tuesday for all bar the FTSE, with the Dow Jones continuing to retreat from Monday's record highs as investors started to consider how and if the US/China trade truce will transform into a trade deal," said Connor Campbell at Spreadex."The Dow wasn't up to much after the bell, sitting around 200-ish points adrift of where it was at its highest point on Monday. The FTSE, in contrast, added another 50 points, allowing it to cross 7,750 for the first time in over 9 months," he commented, explaining: "The main thrust of the index's gains stemmed from sterling's losses."The pound on Tuesday slid, hit first by a far worse than expected PMI read-out and then tumbling after cautious comments from BoE Governor Mark Carney.IHS Markit said the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply UK Construction Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 43.1 points in June from 48.6 in May, pushing the print deeper into contraction territory, away from the 50 point neutral mark.Economists had expected the June figure to rebound modestly to 49.3 points."The plunge in the construction PMI to its lowest level since April 2009 is a worrying sign that the damage wrought by Brexit uncertainty is building," said Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics."The threat of a no-deal Brexit reportedly has dampened demand for commercial projects, while the risk of a Corbyn government following a general election has hindered activity in the civil engineering sector," observed Tombs.Then, speaking in Bournemouth, BoE head Carney said trade tensions could be far more damaging than previously envisaged, as he also warned on the effects of Brexit uncertainty on the UK economy.Carney highlighted that the bank, in its last Inflation Report, projected that global growth would soon steady in part due to positive developments in trade discussions. However, since then the US has announced further tariffs on China as well as threatening duties on the EU and Mexico. "Recent data also raise the possibility that the negative spillovers to the UK from a weaker world economy are increasing and the drag from Brexit uncertainties on underlying growth here could be intensifying," said Carney."In my view," he continued, "underlying growth in the UK is currently running below its potential, and is heavily reliant on the resilience of household spending." The pound was quoted at USD1.2595 at the London equities close Tuesday, lower compared to USD1.2649 at the close on Monday.The euro, meanwhile, stood at USD1.1297 at the European equities close Tuesday, down from USD1.1315 at the same time on Monday.In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.2%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended flat.Stocks in New York were broadly unchanged at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all flat in early trade.Oil slipped despite ten non-OPEC nations agreeing to follow the oil cartel's lead and extend existing curbs on crude oil production by nine months in order to help prop up prices.Venezuelan oil minister Manuel Salvador Quevedo Fernandez made the announcement after a meeting in Vienna of the 14 OPEC countries and ten other oil-producing nations.The current lower oil production level was agreed to in December and will now continue to the end of March 2020.Brent oil was quoted at USD62.96 a barrel at the London equities close Tuesday from USD65.40 late Wednesday."WTI and Crude have actually dropped today as dealers are worried about future demand levels. The US and China made a small bit of headway in trade talks in Japan, but the recent poor manufacturing figures from China and Europe have reignited concerns about the health of the global economy," explained David Madden at CMC Markets. Gold, meanwhile, he continued, edged higher on Tuesday as it recouped some of the previous session's losses.An ounce of the precious metal was quoted at USD1,399.05 at the London equities close Tuesday against USD1,390.96 at the close on Monday.This saw Mexican gold miner Fresnillo gained 1.4%, the stock having declined 2.0% on Monday amid the safe haven asset's tumble.At the bottom of the FTSE 100, however, was chemicals firm Croda International. The stock fell 4.1% after UBS downgraded the company to Neutral from Buy. InterContinental Hotels Group was another faller in the wake of a UBS downgrade, sliding 1.8% after UBS lowered the company to Sell from Neutral.In the FTSE 250, Plus500 surged 5.0% after the contract-for-difference trading provider said it was "pleased" with its overall performance in the first half of 2019.The first quarter was hit by low levels of volatility in financial markets, Plus500 said, but revenue in the second quarter jumped 74% on the first quarter to USD94 million. As a result, first half revenue was USD148 million, but this would be well below, by some 68%, the USD465.5 million posted in the first half of 2018, a record period. Stagecoach gained 4.1% after Liberum raised the transport operator to Buy from Hold.Wizz Air was up 3.5% after the central and eastern Europe-focused carrier said June passenger numbers were up 19% to 3.6 million from 3.0 million a year ago.Wizz Air's June load factor was 95.0%, up from 93.3% a year before. In other airline news, Irish carrier Ryanair reported that June passenger numbers rose 13% to 14.2 million from 12.6 million last year. Group load factor - the percentage of seats it fills - was 97% in June, up from 96% a year before. Ryanair shares rose 3.3%Safely the worst mid-cap performer on Tuesday was Funding Circle Holdings, diving 29%.The small-to-medium business lending platform warned economic uncertainty is leading to lower loan demand.As a result, Funding Circle now sees 2019 revenue growth 20% on 2018, from previous guidance of 40% revenue growth. In 2018, it posted GBP141.9 million of revenue, so 2019 guidance is for approximately GBP170 million.Funding Circle has "further tightened" lending to higher-risk band businesses, which has affected volumes, but the company believes this will protect returns for investors.In the UK corporate calendar on Wednesday, there are first quarter results from supermarket chain J Sainsbury as well as engineering firm Electrocomponents, while online estate agent Purplebricks releases annual results.In the economic calendar on Wednesday, the British Retail Consortium's shop price index is out at midnight while Irish consumer confidence and services PMI is at 0001 BST and 0101 BST respectively. Following this, there are service PMIs from Japan, China, France, Germany, the eurozone at the UK at 0130 BST, 0245 BST, 0850 BST, 0855 BST, 0900 BST and 0930 BST respectively.In the US, there is ADP employment change at 1315 BST - a precusor to Friday's monthly jobs report - while there's a services PMI at 1445 BST.