LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Pound Steady After UK's Flat GDP Growth Reading

LONDON (Alliance News) - While off some of Wednesday's earlier lows, stocks in London remained listless at midday."There are a number of worries for investors right now, from the pace of rising bond yields and the impact on investor sentiment, to Italy's populist coalition playing a game of chicken with the European Commission, stalling Brexit negotiations and the ongoing trade conflict between the US and China," commented Oanda's Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam.Meanwhile, the pound was largely unchanged at USD1.3155 at midday - compared to USD1.3141 late Tuesday - despite the UK economy registering no growth in August.FTSE 100 was flat, just 1.33 points lower at 7,236.26 by midday on Wednesday. The FTSE 250 was down 0.2%, or 41.27 points, at 19,508.33 while the AIM All-Share was down 1.4% at 1,014.64.The Cboe UK 100 lost 0.1% at 12,280.82, while the Cboe UK 250 was 0.3% lower at 17,684.09 and the Cboe UK Small Companies was shed 0.2% at 11,846.76.In mainland Europe on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were down 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.The Office for National Statistics on Wednesday showed UK gross domestic product remained unchanged, having been forecast to rise 0.2%, after expanding 0.4% in July. Nonetheless, the economy grew 0.7% in three months to August from previous three months, the same rate of growth as in July.The flat reading for August wasn't too disappointing given a "pretty chunky" July reading, said ING, but the question is whether the economy can sustain this performance now the hot summer is over.ING highlighted Brexit negotiations and real incomes being squeezed by rising oil prices as growth speed bumps."We think there's a risk that economic momentum slows again over the autumn and winter, which in turn means the Bank of England is unlikely to hike rates again before May 2019," said James Smith, developed markets economist at ING.On the subject of Brexit, UK Prime Minister Theresa May will face the Commons on Wednesday amid intense pressure to drop her Chequers proposal as officials in Brussels gather to discuss their latest move in the talks.Top EU officials will be briefed by chief negotiator Michel Barnier following intensified talks ahead of next week's make-or-break October summit for a Brexit deal.May, meanwhile, will appear at the despatch box for the first session of prime minister's questions after a party conference season dominated by Brexit divisions.Cabinet minister Matt Hancock called for unity behind May as he predicted negotiations with the EU would run until the "last minute".May will appear at the despatch box for the first session of Prime Minister's questions after a party conference season dominated by Brexit divisions.Former Brexit secretary David Davis, however, warned on Tuesday of "dire" consequences for Conservatives at the next general election if the government sticks to its negotiating stance on EU withdrawal.Elsewhere in the events calendar for Wednesday, US producer prices are due at 1330 BST while the Redbook index is at 1355 BST. API weekly crude oil stocks are at 2130 BST.Ahead of all this, Wall Street is pointed towards a slightly higher open. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are all called up 0.1%.In London, Sage gained 2.3% - reversing Tuesday's 1.5% fall - after Deutsche Bank upgraded the accounting software provider to Hold from Sell.Bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair was down 2.5%, extending Tuesday's 5.0% fall after saying it expects the Irish government's new betting duty to increase costs.The Irish government, in its 2019 budget, increased the rate of betting duty payable to 2% from 1% of betting stakes from Irish customers and to 25% from 15% of betting exchange commissions from Irish customers.The new duty will come into effect starting January 2019.The Irish betting firm said if the increased rates had applied to its Irish sportsbook stakes & exchange revenues in the 12 months ended June, it would have had to pay an additional GBP20 million of betting duty.SSE was up 0.8% after the UK Competition & Markets Authority approved the proposed merger between the retail division of the FTSE 100-listed energy provider and Npower following a review.The decision comes after a provisional clearance from the CMA in August. The UK competition regulator said SSE Retail and Npower are not close rivals for customers on standard variable tariff prices.Pub operator Marston's was down 2.7% as it said it expects to report a slight rise in profit for its recently-ended financial year despite weaker trading in Destination food-led pubs.For the year ended September 29, Marston's expects to report underlying pretax profit of GBP104 million, up from GBP100.1 million, on revenue that is anticipated to grow by 15% to around GBP1.1 billion."Although trading in Destination food-led pubs was weaker, this predominantly reflects issues beyond our control relating to unseasonal weather extremes and the World Cup," said Chief Executive Officer Ralph Findlay. On London's junior AIM market, shares in Patisserie Holdings were suspended after the cake maker unearthed "significant and potentially fraudulent" accounting irregularities.The cafe chain, which owns the Patisserie Valerie brand, said that the irregularities "may lead to a material change in its overall financial position" as they could imply a material mis-statement of the firm's accounts. Chief Financial Officer Chris Marsh has been suspended from his role, although the company made no accusation of wrongdoing against him at this stage. "While it is too early to jump to conclusions with Patisserie, this latest episode is incredibly damaging for investor sentiment towards corporate reporting transparency in general. Recent financial errors at drinks distributor Conviviality (which led to its demise) are still ingrained in investors' memories," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.