LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Pound Pulls Back After Mixed UK Jobs Data

LONDON (Alliance News) - Early gains on Tuesday for London's biggest stocks as the Turkish lira stabilised slipped away by midday, while the pound similarly pulled back from its intraday peak after a mixed UK jobs report."The catalyst for better market spirits this morning is a bounce by the Turkish lira. But the diplomatic standoff remains intact as the US awaits a response to their ultimatum to release pastor Andrew Brunson. It seems highly unlikely that market confidence can be restored in the absence of tighter monetary policy too," said Kit Juckes, strategist at Societe Generale.The FTSE 100 index was flat, up 1.29 points, at 7,643.74. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 0.1%, or 23.16, points at 20,598.27. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.3% at 1,087.69.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.1% at 12,955.01, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 18,712.9, and the Cboe UK Small Companies also was up 0.1% at 12,283.49.The pound briefly spiked after the latest UK jobs report, but quickly gave back gains to trade below USD1.28 once again.While the unemployment rate declined to 4.0% in the three months to June from 4.2% a month before, average earnings increased by just 2.4% in the period, slowing from 2.5% the previous month. Earnings excluding bonus, rose 2.7%.There were 2.28 million EU nationals working in the country in the quarter to June, 86,000 fewer than a year earlier, the largest annual decrease since records began in 1997."It's fair to say that the latest UK jobs report is a bit of a mixed bag," said James Smith, developed markets economist at ING.Smith said: "A further fall in UK wage growth is unlikely to faze the Bank of England too much at this stage. But with Brexit uncertainty picking up as 'no deal' talk increases, we don't expect another rate hike before the UK leaves the EU next March."The pound was quoted at USD1.2773 at midday, marginally higher than USD1.2763 late Monday. Sterling had, however, spiked to a high of USD1.2828 immediately after the data before quickly pulling back.In eurozone data on Tuesday, the bloc posted a 0.4% expansion in the second quarter of 2018 compared to the first quarter, the EU statistical office Eurostat announced.That rate, which is seasonally adjusted, translates into annualized growth of 2.2%. This was above the flash estimate of 2.1%.The CAC 40 in Paris was 0.3% at midday while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was also 0.3% higher.Stocks in the US were called for a higher open on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones poised to climb 0.3%, the S&P up 0.4% and the Nasdaq up 0.5%. In a quiet US economic calendar, the Redbook index is at 1355 BST.In London's FTSE 100 at midday, Antofagasta was the worst performer, down 6.0% as it posted a fall in interim profit.Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation fell 16% to USD904.2 million due to higher costs - the Ebitda margin fell to 43% from 53%. Antofagasta's pretax profit for the period was USD465.6 million, down 32% from USD688.6 million a year ago. Looking at the worldwide copper market, Antofagasta said the outlook is "favourable" in the mid to longer term as demand is expected to grow while supply growth is constrained.However, it did caution on the shorter term, saying there is "considerable" market uncertainty due to ongoing international trade disputes. Royal Mail declined 0.9% after Ofcom slapped the postal operator with a GBP50 million fine for a breach of competition law.The UK regulator said the complaint, made by Royal Mail wholesale customer Whistl, was in relation to changes the FTSE 100-listed firm made to its wholesale contract in early, including price increases.Ofcom, a statement on Tuesday, said Royal Mail "abused" its dominant position by discriminating against its only serious competitor. Royal Mail said Tuesday it "strongly refutes" Ofcom's findings, and it is going to appeal.In the FTSE 250, Polypipe was up 7.0% after the plastic piping manufacturer said it is on track to meet its expectations for the full year after a "resilient" first half performance. For the six months to June 30, the company posted revenue flat year-on-year at GBP210.2 million, compared to GBP210.0 million. Meanwhile, pretax profit was marginally down to GBP30.1 million from GBP30.5 million the year before.Polypipe lifted its interim dividend by 2.8% to 3.7 pence per share from 3.6p paid last year.Elementis gained 5.6% after Berenberg raised the specialty chemicals firm to Buy from Hold, believing the stock is undervalued "under all scenarios", whether or not it completes its proposed acquisition of talc group Mondo Minerals.esure was up 4.2%, building on Monday's sharp 31% gain after agreeing to be taken over in a GBP1.2 billion deal.Under the offer first revealed on Monday, esure shareholders will be entitled to receive 280p per share. The offer represents a premium of 37% to Friday's closing share price of 204 pence, being the last business day prior to the commencement of the offer.The all-cash offer has been unanimously recommended by esure's independent directors and accepted by its largest shareholder, Chairman Peter Wood, with 31%, and second largest shareholder, Toscafund, with 17%.News of the agreed deal on Tuesday also came as Esure said pretax profit slumped 20% to GBP36.1 million over the first half of the year from GBP45.1 million a year before due to weather related claims. Gross written premiums were up 12% to GBP440.3 million.At the bottom of the mid-caps was Card Factory, down 4.3% after Berenberg downgraded its rating on the cards retail to Sell from Hold."Although comps soften slightly in H2, we believe trading will continue to be subdued for the rest of the year and are also concerned about the company's dependence on its Q4 trading period in order to meet this new guidance," said Berenberg.