LONDON MARKET OPEN: Dixons Tumbles As It Sees Further Profit Fall

LONDON (Alliance News) - Re-opening from Monday's bank holiday, stocks in London traded lower on Tuesday amid political uncertainty in Europe.In the FTSE 100, Smiths Group was the best performer after confirming it is in talks to merge its medical unit with ICU Medical, though this was offset by losses for Royal Bank of Scotland and for oil majors.FTSE 250-listed Dixons Carphone slumped after it said annual profit is set to fall in both its recently ended financial year as well as the one just begun.The FTSE 100 index was down 0.8%, or 62.61 points, at 7,667.67 early Tuesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 1.1%, or 223.87 points, at 20,886.66. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.4% at 1,084.06.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.9% at 12,999.67. The Cboe UK 250 was down 1.2% at 19,092.27, and the Cboe UK Small Companies down 0.1% at 12,694.95.The lower open comes "from losses on Asia sparked by a fall in oil prices to 6-week lows (set to put the hurt to FTSE Energy names), as well as amid continuing political crisis in Italy," commented Accendo Markets analyst Artjom Hatsaturjants.BP was down 1.3%, while Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares were down 1.1% and 'B' shares down 1.2% as the price of oil fell, quoted at USD75.57 a barrel early Tuesday from USD77.07 late Friday."In the oil market, over supply anxieties are impacting the price of oil. This has pushed the price of oil from its multi-year highs. Iran would have to think about reducing its oil production and if it cannot sell its oil due to the sanctions by the US, Russia and Saudi Arabia are going to step in to take advantage of the situation," said ThinkMarkets analyst Naeem Aslam.In mainland Europe early Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.6% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was also 0.6% lower. In Milan, the FTSE MIB was down 2.3%.Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Monday tasked economist Carlo Cottarelli with forming a government, after an unsuccessful attempt by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the anti-immigrant League to form a coalition.The move came after the two Eurosceptic parties dropped their bid to form a governing alliance on Sunday, increasing the odds of fresh elections as Italy struggles to overcome the political stalemate produced by March election.At the top of London's FTSE 100 on Tuesday was Smiths Group, 2.7% higher after it confirmed over the weekend it is in "very early stage" talks over merging its medical unit with Nasdaq-listed ICU Medical. Smiths said there is no certainty a deal will be reached. ICU Medical, which is based in California, has a market capitalisation of around USD5.60 billion.RBS was down 2.2%. Sky News reported on Monday the UK government is likely to sell a multi-billion pound stake in the lender as soon as this week. Sky News, citing a city analyst, reported that a disposal could target proceeds of more than GBP3 billion, equating to roughly a 10% stake in the bank. The government currently holds around a 71% stake.Rolls-Royce was down 1.6% after it said it has launched a new engine family for business aviation, Pearl. The engine has been purpose-built and will be the sole engine for Canadian plane maker Bombardier's latest business jets, the Global 5500 aircraft and the Global 6500 aircraft. FTSE 250-listed Dixons Carphone - sinking 27% at the open, though recovering slightly to trade 17% lower early Tuesday - said profit is set to fall significantly this year, with a further decline seen for the year ahead.For the year to April 28, the electricals retailer said it expects to deliver headline pretax profit of GBP382 million, and intends to maintain its full-year dividend at 11.25 pence. This compares with a pretax profit of GBP501 million in financial 2017.For the year ahead, headline pretax profit is expected to decline to "around" GBP300 million.This fall includes "early, necessary action" to correct recent underinvestment in its customer proposition, with market and contractual pressures in UK Mobile to be partially offset by cost improvements.Ocado was down 4.3% after Morgan Stanley cut the online grocer to Equal Weight from Overweight. Shares in Ocado have more than doubled in the year-to-date following several international partnership agreements.The best performer in the mid-cap index was IWG, up 2.4%, after Prime Opportunities Investment Group said it made an approach regarding a cash takeover offer which was subsequently rejected by the FTSE 250-listed Regus office space provider."Prime Opportunities continues to actively consider the possibility of making an offer for IWG and is confident in its ability to submit a further proposal to IWG's board for its consideration in due course," Prime Opportunities said.In Asia on Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.8%.US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday pledged to continue close coordination in advance of the "expected summit" between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.Trump and Abe spoke after a government official in Seoul said South Korean President Moon Jae In might travel to Singapore to meet Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.The potential three-way meeting could be held around June 12, when Trump and Kim were originally scheduled to hold their landmark bilateral summit, the presidential office spokesman told the Yonhap news agency.Meanwhile, released on Tuesday, Japan's unemployment rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.5% in April, in line with expectations and unchanged from March's reading.In the economic calendar on Tuesday, in the US, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index is due at 1400 BST, and consumer confidence at 1600 BST.