LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Fresnillo Falls While Housebuilders, GSK Rise

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks continued to trade mostly lower at midday on Wednesday, with focus on a meeting between the European Commission president and US president amid escalating global trade tensions."It will be interesting to see if anything can be achieved during Jean-Claude Junckers visit to Washington today, with the European Commission president hoping to convince [Donald] Trump to drop plans to impose tariffs on the EU, something I am not hopeful he will be able to achieve," commented Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam.Holding back the FTSE 100 were losses for Fresnillo and Informa, with housebuilders and GlaxoSmithKline among blue-chips gaining.The FTSE 100 was down 0.6%, or 47.71 points, at 7,661.34 Wednesday midday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 0.2%, or 46.20 points, at 20,806.67. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.3% at 1,097.41.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.8% at 12,985.12, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.2% at 18,952.04, while the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 12,389.46.In UK data, mortgage approvals rose to a nine-month high in June of 40,541 from 39,528 in May. Gross mortgage lending grew 2.1% on year to GBP23.5 billion in June. Meanwhile, credit card spending was 4.7% higher than a year earlier. "Card spending saw relatively strong growth year on year, with retail sales buoyed by the sunshine and recent sporting events," Eric Leenders, managing director, personal finance at UK Finance said."Meanwhile growth in mortgage lending continues to be driven by remortgaging, as borrowers take advantage of attractive deals ahead of an anticipated Bank rate rise," Leenders added. The Bank of England announces its latest monetary policy decision on August 2.In Germany, business sentiment weakened marginally in July as survey results from Ifo Institute showed its business confidence index fell to 101.7 from 101.8 in June. This was, nonetheless, slightly improved on the expected fall to 101.5.In mainland Europe on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.2% at midday.European Commission President Juncker is in Washington on Wednesday for a White House meeting with Trump, a day after the US president called the EU a "big abuser" of trade relations.Trump last month slapped tariffs on steel and aluminium from the EU, which responded with hiked import taxes on USD3 billion worth of US goods - politically targeted products ranging from peanut butter to whiskey and motorcycles.The US president tweeted late Tuesday that the EU should "drop all tariffs, barriers and subsidies"."That would finally be called Free Market and Fair Trade! Hope they do it, we are ready - but they won't!" the president wrote in his social media post.The Europe-US meeting also comes after the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that Trump's protectionist tariffs are unlikely to shrink US trade deficits. The US government budget deficit - now on course to top USD1 trillion a year - is causing a stronger dollar and actually fuelling US trade deficits, the IMF said.Markets in the US are called to open largely flat on Wednesday as investors eye a packed earnings session. The Dow Jones and Nasdaq are called flat, with the S&P 500 to decline 0.1%.Aerospace firm Boeing, soft drinks maker Coca-Cola and car manufacturer General Motors report before the market opens, with payment services provider Visa, semiconductor designer Qualcomm, social media network Facebook, and Ford Motor reporting after the market closes.Sergio Marchionne, the former head of Italian-American carmaker Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles, who stepped down Saturday due to ill health, has died aged 66, his former company said on Wednesday. In a statement, FCA Chairman John Elkann, said: "Unfortunately, what we feared has come to pass. Sergio Marchionne, man and friend, is gone."In the economic calendar, US new homes sales are due at 1500 BST and EIA crude oil stocks at 1530 BST.Released just before midday, GlaxoSmithKline was up 1.6% in London after it reported a jump in interim profit, upgraded its annual guidance, and also unveiled a four-year collaboration with consumer genetics research company 23andMe.Glaxo said second quarter sales totalled GBP7.3 billion, flat at actual exchange rates but up 4% at constant currencies. For the first half of the year, sales fell 1.1% to GBP14.53 billion from GBP14.70 billion, but pretax profit climbed 26% to GBP1.72 billion from GBP1.37 billion.The drugmaker declared a dividend of 19p for the quarter, continuing to target an 80p payout for the year.Following an "encouraging" first half, Glaxo upgraded its guidance, expecting annual adjusted earnings per share growth between 7% to 10% at constant exchange rates if there is no generic competitor to Advair introduced to the US. If a generic is introduced, EPS is expected to grow in a range of 4% to 7%.In addition, Glaxo said a new "major restructuring" programme is expected to deliver annual costs savings of GBP400 million by 2021.Separately, Glaxo said a collaboration with 23andMe is expected to identify novel drug targets, tackle new subsets of disease and enable" rapid progression" of clinical programmes.All activities within the collaboration will initially be co-funded equally, and Glaxo has made a USD300 million investment in the California-based company.At the top of the FTSE 100 was 3i Group, up 3.1% after the private equity investor said it made a "good start" to the year. Net asset value per share stood at 760 pence at June 30, up 5.0% from 724p at March 31.Taylor Wimpey gained 1.5%, with Barratt Developments rising 1.2%, after Berenberg initiated both housebuilders with a Buy rating.At the bottom of the blue-chip list was Fresnillo, down 5.7% as the miner lowered its annual silver production guidance, though it did raise its expectations for gold.Silver production in the second quarter of the year was up 5.7% on year, whilst production over the first six months of 2018 was up 9.7% to 30.8 million ounces. Gold production in the second quarter was up 4.6%, up 4.4% over the half to 465,000 ounces.Looking to 2018 as a whole, Fresnillo sees total gold production between 900,000 ounces to 930,000 ounces - previously guided between 870,000 ounces and 900,000 ounces - while silver is seen slightly lower, between 64.5 million ounces to 67.5 million ounces, from the previously guided 67 million ounces to 70 million ounces.Informa was 3.7% lower after the events and business information group reported a decrease in profit for the first half of 2018, hit by costs related to its takeover of peer UBM.For the six months ended June 30, the company reported pretax profit of GBP120.3 million, down 19% from GBP148.6 million for the same period a year before, despite revenue growing 4.6% to GBP957.1 million. Informa booked GBP52.2 million in acquisition & integration costs during the period.In the FTSE 250, Indivior slumped 15% after the drugmaker reported a drop in half year earnings, with no new guidance to replace that which it withdrew earlier this month due to the brief market entry of Indian rival Dr Reddy's Laboratories generic buprenorphine/naloxone sublingual film. The company posted a fall in net revenue, down 5% to USD524 million from USD553 million a year ago. Operating profit dropped to USD200 million from USD244 million.Brewin Dolphin was the biggest mid-cap gainer, up 6.2% after the investment manager said total funds increased in the third quarter. In the three months ended June 30, Brewin Dolphin total funds increased 6.6% to GBP42.3 billion from GBP39.7 billion at the end of the previous quarter.On London's junior AIM market, Burford Capital climbed 11% after the arbitration and litigation finance provider reported a 14% rise in interim pretax profit to USD164.6 million, with total income up 17% to USD205.2 million.