LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Higher Close For Day Unable To Offset Weekly Loss

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London closed higher on Friday, as investors were content to snap up bargains amid an absence of news about the US-China trade dispute and Brexit. The FTSE 100 index closed 50.25 points higher, or 0.7%, at 7,117.46. This put the index 2.3% lower for the week.The mid-cap FTSE 250 index ended up 181.20 points, or 1.0%, at 18,821.85, while the AIM All-Share was 1.10 points higher at 859.98.The Cboe UK 100 index finished 0.8% higher at 12,063.35. The Cboe UK 250 closed 0.9% higher 16,710.70, while the Cboe UK Small Companies closed up 0.7% at 10,842.91.In Paris, the CAC 40 ended up 1.2% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt finished 1.3% higher.The euro stood at USD1.1095 at the European equities close, lower than USD1.1104 late Thursday. The pound was quoted at USD1.2147 at the London equities close, up from USD1.2111 at the close Thursday.The London Stock Exchange blamed a "technical software issue" after the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 open was delayed by more than 90 minutes on Friday morning.LSE said the opening auction was delayed until 0920 BST with large and mid-cap stocks resuming trading at 0940 BST, instead of the usual open at 0800 BST."London Stock Exchange experienced a technical software issue this morning that affected trading in certain securities, including FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 stocks. Following resolution of the issue regular trading in all securities commenced at 0940," the exchange operator said.In June last year, the LSE also suffered a "technical software issue" that resulted in the opening auction being delayed for an hour.Despite the technical trouble, the LSE's own shares closed 1.9% higher on Friday."At least it was worth the wait and stocks moved higher picking the FTSE up off a six-month nadir struck in the previous session. Risk appetite showed signs of improving despite no real fundamental change in events," said Cityindex analyst Fiona Cincotta. Royal Bank of Scotland closed as the third best performer in the blue-chip index in London, up 2.5%. The lender rebounded from Thursday's 10% loss. The stock was trading ex-dividend that day and also was hit by broker downgrades.HSBC analysts cut RBS to Hold from Buy as the potential of the UK leaving the EU without a trade agreement becomes a "material" likelihood. Macquarie also cut the stock to Neutral from Outperform. Analysts at the two banks said the recent second-quarter earnings season highlighted the challenging conditions faced by domestic UK lenders, with RBS the most exposed.Swiss bank UBS cut its price target on RBS but retained a Buy rating.At the other end of FTSE 100 index was Prudential, which ended the day 1.0% lower. A UK court refused to agree to an annuities portfolio transfer from one of the insurer's subsidiaries to Rothesay Life.In March 2018, Prudential Assurance - a subsidiary of soon-to-be-spun-off M&GPrudential - agreed a deal that would see Rothesay re-insure GBP12.0 billion in shareholder-backed annuity liabilities covering 400,000 customers. This was expected to be followed by the transfer of the business.The High Court of England & Wales has since declined to sanction the transfer of the assets to Rothesay, despite an independent expert appointed by the court concluding the transfer would have "no material adverse effect" on the security of the benefits of the policyholders.Prudential and Rothesay have been granted leave to appeal the court decision. Turning to mid-caps, Cineworld shares finished 4.9% higher after a trust run for the benefit of the children of brothers Chief Executive Moshe Greidinger and Deputy Chief Executive Israel Greidinger acquired GBP2.2 million shares. Hunting closed up 3.4% following the acquisition of offshore riser maker RTI Energy Systems for USD12.5 million in cash from Arconic.The oil & gas industry services provider said it will fund the acquisition for its existing cash resources. In 2018, Hunting generated USD74.7 million in pretax profit on revenue of USD911.4 million.The product portfolio at RTI - which is protected by a number of patents - was described as "unique" by Hunting, being the only industry supplier of the more reliable titanium stress joints. The acquired firm also provides the fabrication and machining of other components used in the hydrocarbons industry as well as maintenance services.In 2018, RTI generated an unspecified operating loss on revenue of USD7.1 million.In the red on Friday ended Ferrexpo, down 2.6%, as Bank of America cut the miner to Underperform from Buy. The UK corporate calendar on Monday has half-year results from BATM Advanced Communications. Stocks in New York were in the green at the London equities close, with the DJIA up 1.1%, the S&P 500 index up 1.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite 1.5% higher.Homebuilding projects initiated in July in the US fell sharply and unexpectedly compared to June due to another steep drop in apartment construction. The weakness was widespread across the country, with big drops everywhere except in the West, the Commerce Department said.The second consecutive large decline was more bad news in this key sector of the US economy, which has faced constraints from a shortage of workers, higher costs for some materials, and rising house prices which have deterred would-be homebuyers.New projects which started last month fell 4% from the prior month to an annual rate of 1.2 million homes, seasonally adjusted, well below what analysts had expected.One bright spot was a 8.4% jump in building permits, recovering from their lowest point in two years. This offered hope that supply will increase and relieve some of the pressure, especially for apartments.With rising prices for single-family homes, demand has surged for rental apartments, but construction of multi-family units dropped 17% in July, and is down 4.7% from the same month of 2018.However, permits issued for apartment projects surged nearly 25%, the Commerce Department reported.Turning to commodities, gold was quoted at USD1,509.11 an ounce at the London equities close, lower against USD1,517.10 late Thursday.Brent oil was quoted at USD58.56 a barrel at the London equities close, slightly higher from USD58.14 late Thursday.The economic events calendar on Monday has Rightmove Monthly House Price Index at 0001 BST, Japan monthly provisional trade statistics, and EU Harmonised CPI at 0900 BST.London Close is available to subscribers as an email newsletter. Contact info@alliancenews.com