LONDON (Alliance News) - Share prices in London started Friday flat to lower, as Brent oil retreated from the USD50 a barrel mark it reached in Thursday and as investors awaited a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
The FTSE 100 was down 1.01 points, to 6,264.64. The blue-chip index often follows the direction of oil prices, and early Friday the North Sea benchmark Brent crude traded at USD49.09 a barrel, lower than the USD49.81 seen at the London equities close on Thursday.
Brent had reached its highest level of the year on Thursday at USD50.49 a barrel.
The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 0.1% at 17,177.26 early Friday, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.1% at 735.23.
European stocks were lower, with the CAC 40 in Paris down 0.4% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt down 0.2%.
In the Asian session, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed up 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite ended down 0.1%, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong continues up 0.7%.
Investors will be interested to hear what Yellen will say ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee's policy decision on June 15, when she speaks at Harvard University at 1815 BST Friday.
"Yellen will give a talk at Harvard. Not really an opportunity to talk about monetary policy, but nonetheless: if she does not mention rate hikes the market might considers this as another dampener," said currency analysts at Commerzbank, who noted the current market expectations for a US interest rate hike in June stands at around 30% according to Fed Funds Futures.
Elsewhere in the economic calendar, the second reading of first quarter US GDP is at 1330 BST, at the same time as personal consumption expenditure. The Reuters/Michigan consumer sentiment index is at 1500 BST.
On the London Stock Exchange, Marks & Spencer Group was down 0.5% after Societe General cut the FTSE 100 stock to Hold from Buy. The French bank said like-for-like sales in the retailer's Clothing & Home division is unlikely to recover and is closely correlated with the company's share price.
In the FTSE 250, closed-life fund consolidator Phoenix Group Holdings said it has agreed a GBP375.0 million deal to acquire the pensions and protection business of AXA Wealth, the wealth management arm of French insurer AXA.
Phoenix will pay the consideration in cash, and the deal will add around GBP12.3 billion in assets under management to its books, along with more than 910,000 policies. The businesses acquired trade under the Embassy and SunLife brands.
The group said the acquisition is expected to generate cashflows of around GBP300.0 million between 2016 and 2020 and GBP200.0 million from 2021 onwards. Phoenex traded up 1.9% early Friday, making it the best performer in the mid-cap index.
Softcat was down 0.7%, having traded higher at the beginning of the session. The IT infrastructure company said it remains on track for a strong full-year performance following good trading in the third quarter.
Softcat said trading in the third quarter to the end of April was in line with its expectations, with gross and operating profit on track. The group also said it has mad higher-than-anticipated savings from its procurement practices.
Revenue growth in the quarter was ahead of the first half, Softcat said, while gross profit and operating profit also grew faster thanks to a focus on higher-margin work.
Bodycote shares were down 1.3%. The industrial company maintained its expectations for 2016, as revenue fell in the first four months of the year.
The FTSE 250-listed company, which supplies heat treatment, metal joining, hot isostatic pressing and coatings services, said group revenue for the four months to the end of April was GBP192.4 million, down 4.9% year-on-year, or 9.1% at constant currencies.
After taking into account Bodycote's exit from its business in Brazil and the restructuring actions it announced in 2015, like-for-like revenue fell 2.7%, it said, and 7.0% at constant currencies.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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Bodycote (BOY)
Marks & Spencer (MKS)
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX)
Softcat (SCT)