LONDON MARKET OPEN: FTSE 100 Slips As Ex-Dividend Stocks Weigh

LONDON (Alliance News) - Ex-dividend stocks were keeping the FTSE 100 in negative territory early Thursday, while the FTSE 250 climbed higher amid some gains for Sports Direct International and WH Smith.The FTSE 100 was down 10.69 points, or 0.1%, at 7,411.22 early Thursday. The FTSE 250 was up 41.41 points, or 0.2%, at 19,525.88, while the AIM All-Share was up 0.1% at 934.08.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.2% at 12,572.67. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 17,429.12, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.1% at 11,243.65."It's a light data day, following the busy one yesterday. Clearly the market will continue to digest the implications of the UK's extension. The PM is expected to make a statement to the House of Commons on yesterday's summit," said analysts at Lloyds Banking.The pound was broadly steady, quoted at USD1.3093 early Thursday from USD1.3095 late Wednesday after EU leaders agreed to delay Brexit until end of October. The UK is heading for a Halloween Brexit after the remaining 27 EU nations offered Theresa May a further six months to ratify or rethink her withdrawal deal.The second extension to the Brexit process - initially intended to conclude on March 29 - stopped the clock on a no-deal withdrawal on Friday with less than 48 hours to go.In an early-hours press conference, European Council president Donald Tusk did not rule out further extensions beyond October.Tusk sent a message to the UK: "This extension is as flexible as I expected, and a little bit shorter than I expected, but it's still enough to find the best possible solution."If a withdrawal deal could be ratified within the first three weeks of May, the UK could still avoid participation in that month's European Parliament elections and leave the EU in June, UK PM Theresa May said.Ulrich Leuchtmann, analyst at Commerzbank, said: "The signal this sends out is clear: the UK can delay Brexit as often as they want, but only in small doses. That is about the worst outcome I can imagine. I fear Brexit is turning into a never-ending story."The economic events calendar on Thursday has inflation data Ireland at 1100 BST and US producer prices at 1330 BST.In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.5% and flat respectively in early dealings.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 1.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.8%.At the bottom of the FTSE 100 on Thursday were a number of ex-dividend stocks, including asset manager Standard Life Aberdeen, down 4.2%, insurer Aviva, down 3.6%, and broadcaster ITV, down 3.6%. Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer slipped 1.4% after Credit Suisse downgraded the food, clothing and homeware retailer to Underperform from Neutral. Fresnillo was 1.2% lower after posting a fall in silver and gold production in the first quarter of the year. Meanwhile, its silver-gold Juanicipio project with MAG Silver Corp has received approval from shareholders.Fresnillo will be the operator of Juanicipio, holding a 56% stake in the venture, while MAG will own the remaining 44%. Construction is expected to start immediately, with completion expected in late 2020.At full capacity, Juanicipio is expected to produce 11.7 million ounces of silver and 43,500 ounces of gold, with an initial life of mine of 12 years. The project has estimated pre-operative capital expenditure of USD395 million.Fresnillo produced 13.1 million ounces of silver in the first quarter of 2018, down 15% on a year ago due to lower ore grade and throughput. Quarterly gold production of 211,100 ounces was down 8.8% on the same period a year ago.The Mexican miner backed its annual outlook, still on track to produce 58 million to 61 million ounces of silver and 910,000 to 930,000 ounces of gold in 2019.In the FTSE 250, Sports Direct was up 1.3% after it said it will start a share buyback programme worth GBP15 million in order to reduce the company's share capital.The maximum number of shares to be purchase under the programme will be 5.0 million, the sportswear retailer added. WH Smith gained 1.0% after having one of its best High Street performances in a decade as it boosted its interim dividend.Group revenue was up 8% to GBP695 million in the six months to February 28, up 1% on a like-for-like basis. However, pretax profit slipped to GBP65 million from GBP82 million.Travel revenue was up 18%, rising 3% on a like-for-like basis, while High Street revenue fell 1%, with like-for-like sales 2% lower. This High Street performance, WH Smith highlighted, was its second best sales performance in the past decade.There was strong profit growth in Travel, with profit up 7% to GBP44 million. WH Smith expects this momentum to continue into the second half, with profit to grow slightly ahead of expectations.The retailer raised its interim dividend by 8% to 17.2p per share."While there is uncertainty in the broader economic and political environment, we have made a good start to the second half of the financial year and the increase in the interim dividend by 8% reflects the board's confidence in the outcome for the full year," said Chief Executive Stephen Clarke.