LONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks Mixed, Pound Firm After May's Brexit Defeat

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London were mixed early Wednesday, with the pound recovering from its overnight lows after parliament overwhelming rejected UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal late Tuesday.The FTSE 100 was down 16.96 points, or 0.3%, at 6,878.06, while the FTSE 250 was 58.21 points higher, or 0.3%, at 18,487.98. The AIM All-Share was up 0.1% at 900.83.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.3% at 11,678.92, while the Cboe UK 250 was 0.2% higher at 16,527.67 and the Cboe UK Small Companies flat at 11,111.45.Despite some turbulence overnight the pound was "neither helping nor hindering the FTSE" as it steadied after last night's Brexit vote defeat for May, said Michael van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets. He said: "Despite falling as low as negative 1.7% at one point, sterling is back to square one as the parliamentary calculus remains unchanged and the PM is likely to remain in power, even after today's no confidence vote."MPs voted against May's withdrawal deal late Tuesday by an emphatic 432 votes to 202, which has thrown the future of her administration and the nature of the UK's EU withdrawal into doubt.The 230-vote margin of defeat was by far the worst suffered by any government in a meaningful division since at least the First World War and in normal circumstances would be enough to force a prime minister to resign.But May made clear she intends to stay on, setting out plans for talks with senior parliamentarians from parties across the Commons in the hope of finding "genuinely negotiable" solutions which she can take to Brussels.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the "catastrophic" defeat represented an "absolutely decisive" verdict by MPs on May's handling of Brexit.Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which will go to a Commons vote on Wednesday and could force an early general election if it wins the support of more than 50% of MPs.However, the no-confidence vote is seen as unlikely to succeed after the DUP's Sammy Wilson said that the Unionist party will back May in her fight for survival, saying: "We never wanted a change of government, we want a change of policy."The EU warned of a disorderly Brexit risk after the vote, with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker urging the UK to "clarify its intentions as soon as possible".Sterling was quoted at USD1.2879 early Wednesday, having dipped as low as USD1.2667 immediately before the results of the vote were announced, and higher than USD1.2761 at the London equities close on Tuesday."Should today's 'no confidence' vote turn out as expected it will probably have little impact on the currency as markets wait for more clarity on where Brexit negotiations are now headed," commented Lloyds Banking.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt 0.4% was higher early Wednesday.While UK politics will remain in focus on Wednesday, attention will also lie on the latest consumer inflation figures, due out at 0930 GMT.The consumer price index is expected to ease to 2.1% in December on a year-on-year basis, compared to 2.3% in November. On a month-on-month basis, CPI is expected to remain steady at 0.2%.UK producer prices will be released at the same time as CPI. Elsewhere in the economic calendar on Wednesday are US import and export price indices at 1330 GMT.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended flat, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong finished 0.1% higher.At the bottom of the FTSE 100 in early trade was Pearson, down 4.7% despite saying it expects to deliver an annual profit in line with previous guidance, and forecast earnings growth for the year ahead.The company expects to deliver adjusted operating profit of GBP540 million to GBP545 million for 2018, in line its guidance range of GBP520 million to GBP560 million. Pearson said underlying revenue was down 1% year-on-year, with declines in US Higher Education Courseware of 5% and US K12 courseware largely offset by the rest of the business growing at over 1%.Looking ahead, the company expects to deliver adjusted operating profit of between GBP590 million to GBP640 million in 2019. Pearson expects US Higher Education Courseware revenue to be somewhere between flat to down 5% as underlying pressures continue, though the rest of the business is forecast to show continued growth.Among the risers were housebuilders, after mid-cap Bovis Homes said 2018 profit is expected slightly ahead of market forecasts. Bovis, up 1.6% in early dealings, said it delivered 3,759 new homes in 2018, up 3% on last year and in line with expectations. The total average selling price on completions was GBP273,000, marginally higher than the GBP272,400 achieved last year.The housebuilder said it expects to deliver a "significant step-up" in its operating margin for 2018 following the implementation of operational improvements, with profit for the year expected slightly ahead of market consensus."The group has made excellent operational and financial progress in 2018 and we expect to build upon this further in 2019," Bovis said, adding that early signs of trading in 2019 are "encouraging".In the FTSE 100, Taylor Wimpey was up 1.9% while Persimmon was 1.6% higher and Barratt Developments up 1.5%. Back in the FTSE 250, gold miner Hochschild Mining was down 2.2% as it reported a rise in annual production but guided to a fall in 2019.The company's total attributable production for the year included 260,436 ounces of gold, 19.7 million ounces of silver, 526,650 gold equivalent ounces and 39.0 million silver equivalent ounces. This compares to 254,930 ounces of gold, 19.1 million ounces of silver, 513,600 gold equivalent ounces and 38.0 million silver equivalent ounces in 2017.All-in sustaining costs for 2018 are on track to meet guidance of USD940 to USD970 per gold equivalent ounce, the company added. For 2019, Hochschild expects to produce 457,000 gold equivalent ounces and 37.0 million silver equivalent ounces.