LONDON MARKET PRE-OPEN: Johnson Matthey On Track, Fresnillo Warns

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were set for a lower open on Wednesday due to renewed US-China trade worries, while in early UK corporate news there was a broadly solid set of updates, though miner Fresnillo has reduced annual production guidance.IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index will open 18 points lower at 7,559.20. The blue-chip index closed 45.40 points, or 0.6%, higher at 7,577.20 on Tuesday.President Trump on Tuesday said the two sides were still a long way from a trade deal and that he still could impose higher tariffs on Chinese imports if he did not get his way.His remarks, hitting out at what he says is a lack of follow-through from Beijing on promises to buy more farm goods, came just as high-level talks were due to take place this week, though a face-to-face meeting has still not been agreed.There had been hopes of some sort of progress after Trump and Xi Jinping agreed at the G20 last month to restart talks."President Trump kept equity traders on their toes yesterday when he said the US and China have a 'long way to go' in relation to working out a trade deal," said CMC Markets UK's David Madden."The US leader also warned he could slap tariffs on USD325 billion worth of Chinese goods 'if we want'. The announcement was aimed at Beijing, but the Chinese authorities don't have a history of giving in to his threats. US equity markets ended a little lower last night, and stocks in Asia are in the red as trade worries resurface."In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 0.1%, the S&P 500 down 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite 0.4% lower.On Wednesday in the US, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, streaming service Netflix, IT consultant IBM, and computer software company Microsoft all release second-quarter results. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed 0.3% lower on Wednesday. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 0.3% lower.In UK corporate news, chemicals firm Johnson Matthey reported flat first quarter sales at constant currency, with growth in Clean Air offset by sales falls in Efficient Natural Resources and Health.However, Johnson Matthey has held guidance for its full financial year ending March 2020, with performance still set to be weighted to the second half. Growth in operating performance, it said, will be in the mid-to-high single digits. The company also said John Walker, executive director and head of Clean Air, will be stepping down in March next year. He will be succeeded by Tate & Lyle executive Joan Braca. Utility firm Severn Trent said it has made a good start to its financial year ending March 2020, and it has guided to meet expectations and prior guidance. Momentum is continuing, Severn Trent said, and it is on track to deliver "at least" GBP25 million in customer outcome delivery incentive outperformance payments. Large cap gold miner Fresnillo has cut 2019 guidance due to lower grades at the Fresnillo mine in Mexico and leaching pad delays at Herradura.It now sees 2019 gold output at 880,000 to 910,000 ounces from 910,000 ounces to 930,000 ounces before, and silver guidance has been lowered to 55 million to 58 million ounces from 58 million ounces to 61 million ounces before. Fresnillo's second-quarter gold production rose 4.8% on the prior quarter to 221,307 ounces, but fell 5.4% on the year before, with first half gold down 7.1% year-on-year to 432,417 ounces.For silver, second quarter output rose 9.7% to 14.1 million ounces, but fell 6.0% on the year, with first half production down 10% on the year prior to 27.6 million ounces. Fellow miner BHP Group reported a mixed production performance for its recently ended financial year, with a drop in copper and iron ore output.For the year to June, copper production declined by 4% to 1.7 million tonnes, due to production outages at Olympic Dam in Australia and a lower grade from the Escondida mine in Chile despite a strong performance from BHP's other operations in the country.For the year ending June 2020, BHP is guiding for copper production of between 1.7 million to 1.8 million tonnes.Iron ore production for the year was slightly lower at 238.0 million tonnes, compared to 238.4 million the prior year, as record production from the Jimlebar mine in Australia was offset by inventory impacts from the Mount Whaleback mine fire the prior year.For the 2020 financial year, BHP expects iron ore production to be between 242 million tonnes and 253 million tonnes.In the FTSE 250, housebuilder Galliford Try said pretax profit for its year ended June should meet analyst expectations of between GBP112.7 million to GBP116.4 million.Linden Homes has performed well, Galliford continued, with margins strong, while Partnerships & Regeneration has also had a strong year with "excellent" progress made. The restructuring of the Construction unit is now complete, and GBP40 million of previously announced costs will be booked in the full year. Bookmaker GVC Holdings reported "very strong" second quarter Online net gaming revenue growth of 16%, despite the year-on-year comparative having the football World Cup.For the three months to June, UK retail like-for-like net gaming revenue slumped 19%, however, due to the new GBP2 stake limit of fixed-odds betting machines. This is better than initial guidance however, GVC said.For the second quarter overall, GVC's net gaming revenue grew 3%, and in the first half, it grew 5%. TalkTalk Telecom reported a 1.3% rise in total headline revenue for the three months to June, reaching GBP387 million, with headline on-net revenue rising 2.6%. The first quarter of TalkTalk's financial year went to plan, the company said, and it has reiterated all full-year guidance, seeing "strong" earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation growth. Elsewhere, newly listed Watches of Switzerland reported a 23% rise in revenue for its year ended April 28 to GBP773.5 million, with luxury watch revenue rising 28% to GBP631.4 million. Pretax profit almost tripled to GBP20.1 million, and trading in its newly-begun financial year has been solid. The international data calendar Wednesday has EU harmonised consumer prices at 1000 BST, as well as UK CPI, producer prices, and the housing price index at 0930 BST. The pound was quoted at USD1.2407, flat from USD1.2408 at the close Tuesday, with fears over a no-deal Brexit weighing on sterling so far this week."The pound has been the biggest loser against the greenback among the G10. Cable fell 0.83% since Monday, and that, despite the encouraging economic data released in London yesterday," said London Capital Group's Ipek Ozkardeskaya.