LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: FTSE 100 Rallies, Leaves Primark Owner Behind

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London rebounded Friday after a tough week but left behind FTSE 100-listed Associated British Foods as it warned on a challenging trading for its core fast fashion business Primark. The FTSE 100 climbed 92.97 points, or 1.4%, to 6,797.02. The FTSE 250 was up 174.71 points, or 1.0%, at 17,928.02 by midday and the AIM All-Share was 4.72 points higher, or 0.5%, at 894.61.The Cboe UK 100 was up 1.8% at 11,529.51, while the Cboe UK 250 was up 1.1% at 16,045.81. The Cboe UK Small Companies was 0.3% higher at 11,190.49."The FTSE 100 is almost uniformly higher this morning, which is not surprising given the washout in equities over the past few days; just 7% of the index is above their 20-day moving averages, a level that normally suggests we will be treated to a bounce in the short-term at least. But one left out of the rally is Associated British Foods, and with a warning of further challenging trading at Primark it is not hard to see why. If even Primark is suffering, then the UK high street is in real trouble," said IG's Chief Market Analyst Chris Beauchamp. In the FTSE 100 at midday, only four companies were in the red with AB Foods the worst performer, losing 2.9%.The company said Primark trading remained challenging in November due to tough conditions in the UK retail market. AB Foods, which also owns operates a sugar business, however remained confident of increasing Primark's profit in 2019 financial year by "careful inventory management and improved margins." At the other end of the blue chip index, Berkeley Group gained 2.8% at midday. The housebuilder's shares were higher after raising its profit guidance and pledge to continue returning cash to shareholders. Berkeley said that, as a result of a "resilient start" made to the current financial year, it will raise pretax profit guidance for the year ending March 2019 by 5%, leaving the next two years unchanged. For the first half to October-end, Berkeley returned GBP193.7 million through share buybacks and GBP43.8 million in dividends to shareholders. The group expects to pay the next GBP139.7 million shareholder return by September 30, 2019, in dividends and share buybacks. In addition, Berkeley expects to return at least GBP16.34 per share, or GBP2.20 billion, to shareholders over the next three years by September 30, 2021. Peers Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments and Persimmon were up 3.1%, 3.1% and 2.7%, respectively, despite house price growth in the UK slowing sharply, according to Halifax. The data showed annual house price growth in the UK slowing to the weakest rate seen in six years. Across the UK, property values increased by 0.3% annually in November, following a 1.5% annual uplift in October, Halifax said.The annual increase in November marked the lowest growth since December 2012, the bank added.The average house price is now GBP224,578. House prices tumbled by 1.4% month on month in November, wiping out a 0.7% increase seen the previous month.Halifax said house prices have now fallen for three months out of the past four, on a month-on-month basis.Halifax Managing Director Russell Galley said: "House price growth has slowed as we approach the end of the year, falling from 1.5% in October to 0.3% in November, with the average cost of a home now GBP224,578.""While this is the lowest rate of growth in six years, it remains within our forecast range of 0% to 3% for 2018.""High employment, wage growth and historically low mortgage rates continue to make home ownership more affordable for many, though the need to raise a significant deposit still acts as something of a restraint on the market.""This is largely offset by relatively limited supply of new and existing properties for sale, which continues to sustain house prices nationally."Back on the London Stock Exchange at midday, Land Securities was up 2.5%. The property investment company acquired a 1.6 acre site on Lavington Street in Southwark, south east London, for GBP87.1 million from an unnamed private company. The site consists of two buildings amounting to 128,000 square feet and is said to have significant development potential. Land Securities said the acquisition will add to its central London development pipeline, which currently stands at 2 million square feet. At the top of London's mid cap index at midday was Games Workshop, gaining 5.3%. The wargames manufacturer and retailer said its early estimates show an increase in sales and operating profit in the first half of its financial year on the back of the success of its Warhammer brand. Games Workshop said estimates indicated revenue of approximately GBP124 million. This compares to revenue of GBP108.9 million a year before. Games Workshop also estimated its operating profit for the period at approximately GBP41 million, up modestly from an operating profit of GBP38.8 million for the year-ago period. Premier Oil was up 4.2% as the exploration and production firm said it has completed the sale of its southern North Sea Babbage interests to Verus Petroleum SNS and is on track to meet its 2018 production forecast.Premier Oil has received GBP30.3 million for its Babbage interests, after adjusting for cash flows collected by Premier since the January 2018 effective date. Versus will also take on exploration commitments valued at approximately USD24 million.Premier Oil expects its 2018 production to be around 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, rising from 75,000 barrels in 2017.The oil producer also noted that more than 30% of its 2019 forecast oil entitlement production has been hedged at an average price of USD70 per barrel. At the other end of the FTSE 250, Genus lost 5.3% as the animal genetics firm raised GBP68 million through a share placing - at a discount - which will go towards reducing its net debt and adding flexibility to its balance sheet. Genus raised the GBP68 million by placing 3.1 million shares in a price of 2,200 pence per share, which reflects a 7.8% discount to the stock's closing price on Thursday of 2,386.00 pence. The amount of shares placed and the price is in line with Genus's announcement of the placing late Thursday. In other UK economic news, The Bank of England released survey data showing UK inflation expectations for the coming year rose to their highest level in five years.Median expectations of the rate of inflation over the coming year were 3.2%, compared to 3.0% in August, the results of the quarterly Bank of England/TNS Inflation Attitudes Survey showed.The 3.2% expectation was the highest since the November survey of 2013, when the year-ahead inflation was projected at 3.6%.The central bank's analysis projected that inflation could hit 6.5% as the pound dives in a no-deal or disorderly Brexit.BoE Governor Mark Carney also predicted that food prices could jump as much as 10% if there is a 25% slump in the pound due to a no-deal Brexit.The pound was quoted at USD1.2760 as next week's vote looms, down compared to USD1.2765 late Thursday.In mainland Europe at midday, the CAC 40 index in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 1.3% and 0.5% respectively. "European stocks have rallied this morning following the impressive comeback that US markets underwent last night. The huge swing we saw in US markets yesterday underlines the volatility in markets, and that nervousness still exists. One good morning doesn't make up for the dismal week that European stocks had, and some investors are likely to be playing the wait-and-see game until the US jobs report is released later today," said CMC's David MaddenThe closely watched US jobs report for November will be released at 1330 GMT. The US economy is expected to have added 199,000 jobs with a jobless rate of 3.7%.In the US, stocks are pointed towards a lower open on Friday. The Dow Jones is called down 0.3%, the S&P 500 down 0.4% and the Nasdaq composite set to slide 0.4%.