LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Pound, BHP Keep FTSE From Joining European Peers

LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 on Tuesday lagged its European counterparts, the foreign earner-heavy index weighed down by a weaker dollar as well as losses for miner BHP Billiton on the release of its annual results.The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.3%, or 25.56 points, at 7,565.70. The FTSE 250 ended up 0.5%, or 111.71 points, at 20,642.86, and the AIM All-Share closed up 0.2%, or 2.03 points, at 1,082.58.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.4% at 12,834.43, while the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.4% at 18,738.96 and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.2% at 12,248.14.In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.5%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.4%."With the POTUS complaining about the Federal Reserve's recently rate-rising ways - remember, the central bank is still on track for 2 more hikes in 2018 - the greenback took a tumble," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.A report from Reuters said US President Donald Trump accused China, as well as Europe, of manipulating their currencies and also said he was "not thrilled" with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for raising interest rates.Trump was also cautious on the progress expected from trade talks with China this week in Washington."The Eurozone indices were broadly fine with the euro's gains...the FTSE, on the other hand, was less pleased with the pound's push," Campbell added.The euro stood at USD1.1524 at the European equities close Tuesday, against USD1.1437 at the same time on Monday. Meanwhile, the pound was quoted at USD1.2860 at the London equities close Tuesday, compared to USD1.2761 at the close on Monday.A dip in the dollar also helped to lift the price of gold, the precious metal quoted at USD1,189.10 an ounce at the London equities close Tuesday against USD1,186.49 at the close on Monday.In UK data on Tuesday, the latest Industrial Trends Survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed manufacturers registered a slowdown in order growth in August.The survey showed that 31% of manufacturers reported their total order books to be above normal, and 23% said they were below normal, giving a balance of 7% for three months ended August.The factory order book balance for August fell to 7% from 11% in previous month, having been expected at 8%.Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics showed the UK budget balance posted the biggest surplus for July since 2000. Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, posted a GBP2.0 billion surplus for July. The ONS said the key to the GBP1 billion surplus growth were a GBP1.0 billion increase in self-assessed Income Tax receipts and a GBP300 million increase in value-added-tax receipts."July's public finances figures leave borrowing on course to come in comfortably below the OBR's forecast this year, suggesting that the Chancellor should have some room to manoeuvre in the Autumn Budget," commented Ruth Gregory, senior UK economist at Capital Economics.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 index both up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.5%. Ending near the top of the FTSE 100 on Tuesday was online grocer Ocado, up 2.1%, as Wm Morrison Supermarkets rose 1.9% to take third place.Among the big four supermarkets, Kantar Worldpanel's latest grocery data showed Morrisons regained the position of fastest growing - which it had lost to Asda last month - with sales up 2.7% and market share flat at 10.4% for the 12 weeks to August 12.Ocado saw sales up 8.5% in the same period, as it increased its market share to 1.2% from 1.1% recorded a year ago. Towards the bottom of the index was miner BHP Billiton, shedding 2.2% after it annual results disappointed.BHP's pretax profit rose to USD14.75 billion from USD11.14 billion the prior year, while underlying Ebitda was up 20% to USD23.18 billion.This excludes US shale operations, and fell short of analyst consensus of USD24.31 billion underlying Ebitda. Including US shale, the figure was USD24.11 billion. However, the total dividend for BHP's financial year was 118 cents, far higher than the 83 cents paid out a year earlier and above analyst consensus of a 116 cents return.John Wood Group gained 7.4% to be the biggest riser in the FTSE 250, despite swinging to a loss for the first half of the year.The oilfield services firm turned to a loss of USD25.3 million from a USD13.5 million profit a year before, due to a one-off cost of USD101.1 million. The loss stemmed from bank fees related to the GBP2.20 billion acquisition of peer Amec Foster Wheeler, which completed in October.However, on an underlying basis, pretax profit rose to USD82.0 million from USD64.2 million. John Wood's revenue saw double digit growth, rising by 13% to USD5.38 billion from USD4.74 billion on a proforma basis the year before.Aggreko ended the session 4.4% higher, boosted after HSBC raised its rating on the temporary power generator supplier to Buy from Hold. Elsewhere on the Main Market, Nostrum Oil & Gas ended 5.4% higher despite interim revenue falling amid a "challenging" period. For the six months to June 30, the Kazakhstan-focused oil & gas production company posted revenue of USD191.5 million, down 8.8% from USD210.0 million a year ago. Pretax profit slumped year-on-year to USD11.9 million from USD34.6 million.Average sales volume for the six-month period were at 29,886 barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared to 46,685 barrels of oil per day a year before. The company said that, following the loss of the first production well in the first quarter, it now expects sales volumes to average 32,000 boepd for the year.Brent oil was quoted at USD72.45 a barrel at the London equities close Tuesday from USD72.14 late Monday.Hostelworld lost 5.7% as interim profit dropped, along with a fall in revenue, amid the introduction of its free booking cancellation policy.For the six months to the end of June, Hostelworld reported a pretax profit of EUR2.8 million, down from EUR5.2 million the year before, on revenue that dropped by 9.0% to EUR42.6 million from EUR46.6 million.Deferred revenue from free cancellation bookings totalled GBP4.2 million, which will be recognised in future periods.In the corporate calendar, cyber security firm Avast, smart infrastructure products firm Costain Group and merchanting and DIY firm Grafton Group release interim results.In the economic calendar on Wednesday, US MBA mortgage applications are at 1200 BST while existing home sales are at 1500 BST and the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's last meeting released at 1900 BST.