LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: FTSE 100 Dips As Oil Retreats; Ferrexpo Bounces

LONDON (Alliance News) - It was a muted start to the week for London stocks, with the FTSE 100 lower as oil continues to give back recent gains, while Ferrexpo's rebound tipped the FTSE 250 into the green. The FTSE 100 was down 13.27 points, or 0.2%, at 7,414.89 Monday midday. The FTSE 250 index was up 24.09 points, or 0.1%, at 19,880.96, while the AIM All-Share was flat at 969.65.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.1% at 12,578.89. The Cboe UK 250 was flat at 17,802.16, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.2% at 11,621.62."The FTSE is barely showing signs of life this morning as the weekend plunge in oil prices is pushing and pulling some of the blue chips, notably airlines benefiting from the weaker price and oil producers sliding," commented Fiona Cincotta at City Index. Brent was quoted at USD71.39 Monday midday, down from USD71.90 late Friday. Last week, Brent traded at its best levels thus far in 2019, touching USD75 a barrel. The price retreat came after US President Donald Trump said he called the oil cartel OPEC and demanded lower prices for energy."The gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC. I said: You have got to bring them down," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We are doing great."Trump added later: "Spoke to Saudi Arabia and others about increasing oil flow. All are in agreement," without elaborating further on the issue.Benefiting from the slide in oil, easyJet was up 1.8%, while British Airways-parent International Consolidated Airlines gained 1.1%. In addition, IAG was upgraded to Buy from Neutral by UBS. Meanwhile, BP shares slipped 0.8% while Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares were down 0.7% and 'B' shares 0.5% lower. Wall Street is on course for a subdued start to the week, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all called flat. In the economic calendar, US core personal consumption expenditures - the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation - are due at 1330 BST. The US central bank begins its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday, announcing its decision on Wednesday.As earnings season continues, music streaming service Spotify will report results before the market open on Monday while Google parent Alphabet releases earnings after the close.Back in London, FTSE 100-listed Auto Trader slipped 1.4% after announcing the retirement of Chief Executive Trevor Mather.Mather will leave his position at the end of March next year. Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer Nathan Coe will become CEO-designate of the digital automotive marketplace firm on Wednesday this week, before taking over as CEO once Mather leaves.Towards the top of the index was advertising giant WPP, up 1.7% after Barclays raised its rating on the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight.Pushing the FTSE 250 higher was iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo, rising 7.1%.Ferrexpo said it was "naturally" disappointed by the resignation of auditor Deloitte.Last Friday, Deloitte quit with immediate effect - causing Ferrexpo shares to slump 28% - amid an investigation into payments made by Ferrexpo into Ukrainian charity Blooming Land. Ferrexpo has started looking for a new auditor, it confirmed Monday, and also said trading so far in 2019 has remained strong. Homeserve dipped 3.9% after HSBC cut the emergency repairs firm to Reduce from Hold. In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 was down 0.3% at midday while the DAX 30 was off 0.2%. The euro, meanwhile, was quoted at USD1.160, firm compared to USD1.1158 late Friday. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez claimed victory in Sunday's general election as his Socialist Workers' Party appeared set to gain the most votes but without a clear majority, while far-right newcomers Vox were in for a breakthrough result.Sunday's ballot was Spain's third general election in less than four years.Lawmakers will have their work cut out for them if they are to avoid a repeat of the 2016 impasse that saw Europe's fourth-largest economy without a steady government for almost a year despite two elections within six months.The pound was also flat at midday, quoted at USD1.2931 versus USD1.2929 at the market close on Friday. Talks between the UK government and Labour aimed at breaking the Brexit deadlock are continuing on Monday with both parties facing internal pressures ahead of European elections.Tories fear the May 23 poll could result in an electoral mauling for UK Prime Minister Theresa May if she has not been able to deliver the Brexit that Britons voted for almost three years ago.Further talks are expected between the two sides on Monday afternoon and the Labour frontbencher said: "I think the discussions so far have been productive, they've gone into a lot of detail, there seems to be a willingness on both sides to move towards some form of consensus."But she told Sky News: "As yet we haven't seen the government move on any of their red lines, we're having further discussions this week and hopefully we'll see some movement."