LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Stocks End Lower As US-China Trade War Continues

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London finished lower on Monday, hurt by a negative US open, as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Papua New Guinea concluded without a joint communique."The US decline ensured that a weak morning for the European indices turned decidedly negative in the afternoon," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.2%, or 12.99 points at 7,000.89. The FTSE 250 down 0.3%, or 49.00 points at 18,540.09, and the AIM All-Share closed down 1.2%, or 11.33 points, at 946.98.The Cboe UK 100 ended 0.4% lower at 11,883.05, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.5% at 16,655.62, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.4% at 11,440.30.After posting gains on Friday, stocks in New York were lower at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones down 1.3% and the S&P 500 index 1.2% lower. The Nasdaq Composite was a sharp 2.2% lower.The inability to agree on the final communique was due to "the two big giants in the room", Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said, referring to the US and China - have dominated the APEC summit agenda with their trade dispute and scathing war of words. O'Neill said the countries could not agree on reforms to the World Trade Organization.In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 0.8%, and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended down 0.9%. Negotiators regrouped Monday afternoon in hopes of hashing out the EU's 2019 budget, with hours left to strike a deal.Talks between EU finance ministers and European Parliament representatives broke up late Friday without an agreement. Among the unresolved issues was the question of aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey, EU sources said.If talks do not conclude by the end of Monday, the European Commission is required to submit a fresh proposal.For 2019, the parliament has called for a budget of EUR149.3 billion in payments. That is slightly more than the figures that member states had agreed on, which came to a total of EUR148.2 billion.The euro stood at USD1.1447 at the European equities close Monday, higher compared to USD1.1404 at the same time on Friday.Britain's deal for withdrawing from the EU has been "agreed in full," UK Prime Minister Theresa May said, amid pressure from eurosceptics for last-minute changes.In a speech to business leaders, May said the deal "fulfils the wishes of the British people as expressed in the 2016 [Brexit] referendum" and would give them control over the immigration of EU citizens.New immigration rules for EU citizens must "command the confidence of the public by putting them in control of who comes here," she added.May said the withdrawal agreement and a political declaration outlining the principles of the future relationship "represent a decisive breakthrough, but they are not the final deal.""We now have an intense week of negotiations ahead of us in the run-up to the special European Council on Sunday," she said, adding that she expected those talks to focus on the future relationship.The pound was quoted at USD1.2843 at the London equities close Monday, flat compared to USD1.2839 at the close on Friday.Confidence among British businesses sunk to its lowest level in nine years during the third quarter and households' assessment of their financial conditions dropped to a five-month low, amid the lingering political uncertainty over Brexit, survey data from IHS Markit showed.The net balance of firms anticipating a rise in business activity in the coming 12 months was plus 32, down from plus 39 in June. Optimism peaked at plus 66 in February 2014.Separately, the IHS Markit Household Finance Index, which measures households' overall perceptions of financial wellbeing, fell to 44.5 in November from 45.0 in October, to signal the greatest degree of pessimism since June.However, UK households were optimistic towards their financial health prospects over the coming year for the first time since July and the outcome was the strongest since the start of 2015.On the London Stock Exchange, precious metals mining companies finished in the green, with Fresnillo leading the blue-chip index, closing up 3.4%. Anglo American closed up 1.6% and Glencore closed 1.4% higher.Gold, meanwhile, was quoted at USD1,222.37 an ounce at the London equities close Monday against USD1,221.90 at the close on Friday.Vodafone Group closed up 1.5%, the telecom's chief executive officer expects the UK division to grow after a new strategy of cost savings will kick in, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. In an interview with the FT on the sidelines of a telecoms conference in Barcelona, Nick Read, CEO of the company and former head of the UK unit, said he expects the rate of underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation growth to accelerate in the country, as more cost savings are put forward in a "radical simplification" of the business. In the mid-cap index, technical products supplier Diploma closed up 3.8% after reporting an 8.8% rise in pretax profit to GBP72.7 million in the year to the end of September from GBP66.8 million a year ago. This was on the back of revenue that increased 7.3% to GBP485.1 million from GBP451.9 million.Diploma hiked its final dividend by 11% to 17.8 pence from 16.0p paid to shareholders a year before. This will result in a total payout of 25.5p, also up 11%, from 23.0p. Pharmaceutical company Indivior closed up 1.9% as its extended-release drug Perseris became available in the US for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults.Perseris is a slow-release injectable form of Risperidone and is now available in the US, having been approved by the Food & Drug Administration.The injection provides sustained levels of the antipsychotic drug Risperidone, an established treatment for schizophrenia, over a one-month period.Indivior said it anticipates and is preparing for a full promotional launch by its salesforce for Perseris by February 2019.In contrast, Hikma Pharmaceuticals closed down 3.4%, despite launching a generic version of Pfizer's Halcion tablets in the US to treat insomnia, a sleep disorder.Hikma's Triazolam tablets are indicated for the short-term treatment of insomnia, generally seven to 10 days.According to US pharmaceutical information company IQVIA, US sales of Triazolam tablets totalled USD27 million in the 12 months ending September 30.Elsewhere in the Main Market, Mears Group ended down 9.6% after raising GBP22.5 million through a share placing to cover the initial sum payable under its agreement with Mitie Group. Mitie closed up 0.7%.The housing and social care provider issued 6.8 million shares at a price of 331.5 pence each. The placing was conducted by way of an accelerated bookbuild. The placing price represented a discount of 9.9% to the middle market price at the time that the company and Peel Hunt agreed the placing.Mears expects the acquisition to increase its annual revenue by at least GBP100 million and its order book by GBP200 million.In the commodities, Brent oil was quoted at USD66.20 a barrel at the London equities close Monday, down sharply from USD67.21 late Friday.In the economic calendar on Tuesday, Japan will release its monetary policy statement at 0200 GMT. Germany will release its producer price index at 7000 GMT. In the UK, there will be a press conference with BoE Governor Mark Carney and inflation report hearings, both at 1000 GMT. In the corporate calendar on Tuesday are annual results from budget airline easyJet, hospitality company Compass Group, and Clydesdale & Yorkshire banks owner CYBG. There also will be half year results from information technology company AVEVA Group and security technology provider Halma.