LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Stocks Lower On Negative Brokers Opinions

LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks were broadly lower midday Friday as companies such as Kingfisher and KAZ Minerals were pushed further down by adverse market opinions.The FTSE 100 index was down 0.1%, or 9.51 points, at 7,546.84 midday Friday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 0.3%, or 66.72 points, at 20,395.28. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.3% at 1,081.03.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 12,785.28, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.5% at 18,510.28, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.2% at 12,184.31."Its not been a good week for UK stocks, with the FTSE 100 on course for its lowest weekly close since early May. The benchmark is now back towards the lower reaches of its recent range and should it make a decisive drop beneath the 7500 level then there could well be more downside ahead. It's also been another week of losses for the pound, with sterling sliding once more against all of its major peers, despite better than expected unemployment and retail sales releases while inflation also ticked higher according to the most recent CPI data," said David Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB.Sterling was quoted at USD1.2709 midday Friday, lower than USD1.2727 at the London equities close on Thursday.A no-deal Brexit would be a "mistake we would regret for generations", Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said. Hunt also said that the government would consider EU proposals that demanded accepting European environmental and social legislation, in order to facilitate a free trade agreement. The comments came in an interview with ITV News after a meeting with the Dutch foreign minister as part of a three-day tour of Northern Europe.In addition, a series of UK government preparation papers for a "no deal" Brexit will cover more than 80 specific subjects ranging from blood safety to driving licenses, according to news reports. Under current plans the reports will be published in batches, starting as early as next week and running through September.A provisional list of headings for each paper has been published by BuzzFeed News. The reports are the product of a cross-Whitehall initiative ordered by the former Brexit secretary David Davis to ensure that the UK was prepared to leave the EU without a deal in the event that the Brexit negotiations broke downIn the FTSE 100, RSA Insurance was up 0.7% at 635.40 pence, after Barclays raised its price target on the stock to 693p from 682p, retaining an Overweight rating.DIY retailer Kingfisher remained at the bottom of the blue chip index, down 2.1% after several brokers cut their price target - including Deutsche Bank, CFRA, HSBC and UBS - following Kingfisher's second-quarter trading update on Thursday.Kingfisher shares had closed down 4.8% on Thursday. This was despite reporting strong results in the UK and Ireland, helped by "improved performance of weather-related categories".Kingfisher's performance in France, however, suffered from "weaker footfall". Castorama sales decreased 3.1% to GBP648 million from GBP668 million.Total second quarter group sales were flat at GBP1.19 billion, with like-for-like sales down 1.0%. "In addition to Brexit and the macro, there are a number of areas that will need to be covered off at the interims. These include the reasons for the first half gross margin decline, whether B&Q remains overspaced (especially with the decline in the retail kitchen market), whether Casto and Brico brands can both thrive in France, and indeed whether the GBP350 million target for unified product savings can be achieved after a relatively slow start," said UBS analyst Andrew Hughes.In the FTSE 250, KAZ Minerals sunk deeper, falling by 12%, as brokers such as JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, UBS and Deutsche Bank cut their price target for the copper miner, in spite of positive results on Thursday.The negative opinion stems from the decision by KAZ Minerals at the start of August to acquire the Baimskaya copper project in the Chukotka region of Russia for USD900 million in cash and shares."The market reaction to the Baimskaya deal has been extremely negative. Copper price weakness and reports of higher mining taxes in Russia have not helped sentiment. From a strategic perspective, the Baimskaya project makes some sense. It provides volumes growth from 2027 and will offset expected declines across the rest of the portfolio. However, the combination of country, execution and funding risks has rightly alarmed investors," said Mairead Smith at Deutsche Bank.In the US, stocks are called for a lower open with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 seen down 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite to be down 0.2%. The Turkish lira recovered sharply from Monday's meltdown when it hit a record low below 7.23 to the dollar following US imposed sanctions relating to the trial of an American pastor.The currency held steady today despite an apparent threat of possible new sanctions by US President Donald Trump.Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported that the US trade talks with China would take place in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, just before the next round of levies targeting USD16 billion worth of goods on both sides kick in on Thursday next week.The euro was quoted at USD1.1382 midday Friday, marginally lower from USD1.1392 at the European equities close Thursday.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.2% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.4% midday Friday.Eurozone inflation accelerated for a third straight month in July, as initially estimated, to its highest level since late 2012, final data from Eurostat showed Friday.The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 2.1% year-on-year in July, after climbing 2% in June. The rate came in line with the estimate published on July 31.The latest inflation figure was the highest since December 2012.Thus, inflation has exceeded the European Central Bank's target of "below, but close to 2%" for a second month in a row.Core inflation, excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, accelerated to 1.1% in July, as estimated, from 0.9% in June.On a monthly basis, the HICP slid 0.2% and core prices dropped 0.5% in July.In addition, the European Central Bank reported that the euro area current account surplus remained flat in June.The current account surplus totaled a seasonally adjusted EUR24 billion in June, the same as seen in May.The surplus on trade in goods rose to EUR23 billion from EUR22 billion in May. At the same time, the services surplus remained unchanged at EUR9 billion.The surplus on primary income doubled to EUR6 billion from EUR3 billion. Meanwhile, the deficit on secondary income widened to EUR14 billion from EUR10 billion a month ago.