LONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks Down On Emerging Market And Trade Concerns

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened lower on Thursday with miners weighing on the FTSE 100, amid turmoil in emerging markets and concerns over possible new US tariffs on Chinese products.The FTSE 100 index was down 0.3%, or 16.58 points, at 7,366.70. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 0.4%, or 80.76 points, at 20,307.71. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.1%, or 0.97 points, at 1,100.83.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.3% at 12,477.35, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.6% at 18,385.92, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.1% at 12,229.13.Worries that US President Donald Trump intends to impose tariffs on another USD200 billion worth of Chinese imports as soon as a public comment period ends on Thursday weighed on equities.Moreover, emerging market woes also have soured investor sentiment as South Africa slipped into a technical recession for the first time since 2009 and Turkey reported its highest inflation rate in 15 years.On the London Stock Exchange, Melrose Industries was the best blue chip performer up 5.3% after the industrial turnaround specialist said trading is in line with the board's expectations for 2018.For the half year ended June 30, statutory revenue rose to GBP2.93 billion from GBP1.08 billion last year. On a pro-forma basis, including recent acquisition GKN for the full period, revenue was GBP6.20 billion. Adjusted pretax profit came in at GBP240 million from GBP131 million last year, but on a statutory basis the company posted a loss of GBP276 million, due to costs of its hostile takeover of engineer GKN, a deal completed in April. On a pro-forma basis, including GKN for the whole period, pretax profit was GBP401 million. The company also confirmed it is exploring "strategic options" over the sale of GKN's automotive parts making business Power Metallurgy.Melrose declared an interim dividend of 1.55 pence up from 1.4p last year. In addition, utility stocks were among the blue chip risers amid plans by Ofgem to implement a price cap to protect customers from being overcharged. More than 11 million households will save a combined GBP1 billion a year under plans to cap rip-off gas and electricity tariffs at GBP1,136, the energy watchdog has announced.Ofgem said each typical customer would save around GBP75 a year on average, with those on the most expensive default standard variable tariffs saving more than GBP120 a year when the cap comes into effect.British Gas owner Centrica was up 3.8% and SSE was up 1.3%.Conversely, mining stocks were weighing on the large cap index as the dollar traded off overnight lows on the back of safe-haven demand - weakening the commodity space.BHP Billiton was down 3.4%, Glencore was down 1.6% and Antofagsta was down 1.2% The pound was firm against the greenback, quoted at USD1.2923 compared to USD1.2903 late Wednesday.After the market close on Wednesday, the results of the latest FTSE quarterly index review were released.FTSE Russell, which operates the FTSE indices, confirmed that the FTSE 100 index constituents remained unchanged for the first time since 2006.Elsewhere, antivirus software maker Avast, online trading company Plus500, downstream petroleum company Vivo Energy and loans company Amigo Holdings were promoted to the FTSE 250.On the other hand, waste management company Renewi, retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone, property investor RDI REIT, and asset management software provider Alfa Financial Software were all relegated from the midcap index.The changes come into effect on September 24.In domestic political news, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab will have an opportunity to ask EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier why he described Prime Minister Theresa May's proposals for a future trade deal as "dead" when the two men come face to face. Thursday's discussion in Brussels comes the day after Raab was told of Barnier's withering assessment of the Chequers blueprint as the minister faced a grilling over the UK government's EU withdrawal strategy.Barnier said Thursday's meeting would see the pair continue work to find "common ground" between the European Council's guidelines and the Chequers plan with a view to creating a "new, ambitious partnership".In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.1% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.3% early Thursday.The euro was firm against the dollar quoted at USD1.1624 early from USD1.1619 at the European equities close Wednesday.In early economic news from the continent, Germany's factory orders dropped unexpectedly on lower foreign demand in July, data published by Destatis revealed. New orders in manufacturing fell 0.9% in July from June, confounding expectations for an increase of 1.8%. Nonetheless, this was slower than the 3.9% decline seen in June. On a yearly basis, factory orders fell 0.9% after easing 0.8% in June. Economists had forecast a 1.9% rise for July.The economic events calendar on Thursday has US ADP private payrolls numbers at 1315 BST, which prelude the all-important nonfarm payrolls figures on Friday.Meanwhile, delegations from the US and Canada resumed trade talks in Washington on Wednesday after intense marathon negotiations broke down last week without result.Trump has repeatedly warned that a failure to reach a "fair deal" would result in Washington slapping tariffs on Canada's auto exports."We have to make a fair deal with Canada," Trump said Wednesday at the White House. "I'm not blaming Canada, I love Canada, I love the people of Canada, but they and other countries have been taking advantage of the US for many years."The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 1.3%.