LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Stocks Lower; Metro Bank Dive Drags On FTSE 250

LONDON (Alliance News) - London share prices continued to trade in the red at midday on Wednesday, with Metro Bank's 30% plunge weighing heavily on the mid-cap FTSE 250 index.Though investor sentiment was weak following reports the US has rejected Beijing's offer to hold a preparatory meeting in Washington ahead of next week's high-level trade talks, Wall Street is pointed to a higher open.The FTSE 100 was down 26.76 points, or 0.4%, at 6,874.63. The FTSE 250 was 71.25 points lower, also 0.4%, at 18,610.34. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.3% at 907.93.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.3% at 11,678.29, while the Cboe UK 250 was also 0.3% lower, at 16,652.26. The Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 11,137.22.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.2% and down 0.1% respectively at midday."We're continuing to see caution in the markets on Wednesday, with reports a day earlier regarding trade talks between the US and China only aiding that," said Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam.Expanding on this, Erlam said: "Reports on Tuesday that preparatory talks between the US and China ahead of a meeting at the end of the month had been cancelled put a slight dampener on the mood in the markets at a time when we're already seeing some profit taking, following an impressive four week rally."However, White House adviser Lawrence Kudlow has stressed that the two sides were on track to have "very, very important" high-level talks at the end of the month that will be "determinative". Ahead of the US open on Wednesday, the Dow Jones is pointed up 0.3%, as are both the S&p 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Due to release earnings in the US are Comcast, which recently acquired UK pay-TV provider Sky, and consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble. In London, shares in Burberry were 1.1% higher at midday, reversing earlier losses after the fashion house reported marginal third-quarter like-for-like revenue growth. For the three months to the end of December, including the key Black Friday and Christmas periods, the upmarket fashion retailer suffered a 1.0% decline in total retail revenue to GBP711 million from GBP719 million a year ago.However, comparable sales stores were up 1% in the period with "consistent performance across regions", the retailer added."Burberry may have reported a sales drop with its third-quarter trading update, but investors will still be slightly relieved that sales from China, despite all the recent negative headlines about the country' economy, held up reasonably well," commented Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.Building materials firm CRH was 1.0% higher after Exane BNP raised its rating on the FTSE 100-listed stock to Outperfrom from Neutral. Meanwhile, Exane BNP cut its rating on Ferguson to Underperform from Neutral, with shares in the plumbing firm trading 2.0% lower at midday. Remaining rooted to the bottom of the FTSE 250 was Metro Bank, down almost a third after missing annual profit expectations.The challenger bank said trading in the fourth quarter followed the trends it experienced in the first three quarters, with loans and deposits seeing a sharp rise. However, its underlying pretax profit for 2018 of GBP50 million, though more than double the GBP21 million achieved last year, came in below consensus forecasts of GBP59 million.Metro ended 2018 with loans of GBP14.2 billion compared to GBP9.6 billion at the end of 2017, a 48% increase. The bank's customer loans increased GBP1.1 billion in the fourth quarter. Sanne slipped 16% after the the alternative asset and corporate services provider said Chief Executive Dean Godwin has decided to retire. Martin Schnaier, previously chief commercial officer, will succeed Godwin as CEO in May. Updating on trading, Sanne said it achieved "record new business with sales wins representing GBP13.0 million of additional annualised revenue". G4S was 3.9% lower after the security services provider agreed to settle a class action against the firm in California. The action, covering around 13,500 employees' meal and rest breaks between 2001 and 2010, is the third such G4S has faced in recent years in California. It will pay between USD100 million and USD130 million, with a precise amount to be finalised during the settlement administration process.At the top of the mid-caps was Computacenter, up 8.5% as the IT firm "materially performed" its annual expectations, achieving "record revenue and profitability". For 2018, Computacenter expects revenue to rise 8% on the prior year, excluding acquisitions made during the year. At constant currency revenue is expected to rise 7%. Pretax profit for the recently ended financial year is seen "marginally ahead" of the company's expectations.RPC rose 4.6% to 768.00p after finally reaching a deal to be taken over by Apollo Management for GBP3.3 billion.Under the terms of the agreement, RPC shareholders will receive 782.00 pence per share in cash. They also will be entitled to the previously declared 8.1p dividend to be paid on Friday. The offer price, together with the dividend, represents a 16% premium to RPC's closing price on September 7, the date before the first approach was made. Still to come in the economic events calendar on Wednesday is the Redbook index in the US at 1355 GMT and eurozone consumer confidence at 1500 GMT.In the UK, the Confederation of British Industry warned Brexit is continuing to weight on manufacturing sentiment. A survey of 326 manufacturing firms by the business lobby showed output grew at a pace above the long-run average in the three months to January, but slower than in the three months to December.New domestic orders remained unchanged in the three months to January, after a fall the previous quarter, the CBI said, but new export orders growth was "weak" and "well below" highs seen mid-2018.Just 11% of firms said they were optimistic about business conditions than three months ago. Some 34% were less optimistic, giving a negative 23 reading, the worst decline since July 2016.