LONDON (Alliance News) - Dipping in and out of the red on Monday amid renewed tariff talk, the FTSE 100 was managing to eke out some gains at midday as a weaker pound boosted the foreign-earner heavy index.Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, said US-China trade tensions are showing "no signs of abating".China on Friday said it would respond to threatened tariffs from the US with countermeasures of its own, and released a list of approximately 5,200 US products worth a total of USD60 billion that would be affected by customs duties of between 5% and 25%."It could end up being a case of who can last longer in terms of taking financial damage from the rising tariffs," commented Cincotta.The FTSE 100 index was up 0.2%, or 11.22 points, at 7,670.32 - having hit a low of 7,636.60 earlier in the session. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was also 0.2% higher, or up 47.55 points, at 20,682.88. The AIM All-Share index was flat at 1,089.35.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.1% at 13,001.53, the Cboe UK 250 was also up 0.1% 18,788.70, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was 0.2% higher 12,343.44.The pound continued to tumble below the USD1.30 mark after UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned the chance of a 'no-deal' Brexit is "60-40" due to the "intransigence" of the Brussels machine."I think the intransigence of the commission is pushing us towards no deal," he told the Sunday Times.He said Barnier had dismissed the UK's proposals in the Chequers plan thrashed out by Theresa May and the Cabinet simply because "we have never done it before".The pound was quoted at USD1.2944 at midday, down from USD1.3025 late Friday.In mainland Europe on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were both up 0.2% at midday.In European data, Germany's factory orders plunged in June in a sign that US tariffs and trade-war threats are starting to take their toll on the eurozone's biggest economy.After surging by 2.6% in May, German industrial order books slumped by a hefty 4% in June, the Ministry of Economics said on Monday."Disappointing new orders data show tentative signs of trade tensions hitting the German economy, which doesn't bode well for the industrial outlook in the second half of the year," commented ING Germany chief economist Carsten Brzeski.Monthly foreign orders dropped by 4.7% in June after demand from outside the 19-member eurozone fell by 5.9%. Domestic orders shrunk by 2.8%, the ministry said.Quarter-on-quarter, industrial orders fell by 1.6% in the three months to the end of June, raising the prospects of downbeat second-quarter economic growth figures, which are due to be released next week. The euro was quoted at USD1.1564 at midday following the data, down from USD1.1596 late Friday.Stocks in the US were called for a lower open on Monday, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all seen slipping 0.1%.In pre-market trade, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway was up 1.9% after it reported an operating profit of USD6.9 billion for the three months to the end of June, an increase of 67% on the same period last year.Berkshire Hathaway runs around 90 companies, including in the railroad, utilities, industrial manufacturing and retail sectors. It also has diverse stock holdings - including in big name companies including Apple - the tech giant last week becoming the first company in Wall Street history to be valued at USD1 trillion - Coca-Cola and Kraft Heinz.On the London Stock Exchange at midday, low-cost airline
easyJet was up 0.7% after it said passenger numbers in July grew 4.5% to 8.5 million from 8.2 million a year ago as load factor improved to 96.9% from 96.8%.
HSBC Holdings was down 0.5% despite reporting a rise in interim profit and revenue as it progressed its growth strategy. For the six months ended June, the Asia-focused lender's pretax profit rose 4.6% to USD10.71 billion from USD10.24 billion a year prior. This was after revenue grew 4.3% to USD27.29 billion from USD26.16 billion.By 2020, HSBC is targeting a return on tangible equity of more than 11% under this new strategy. It also plans to invest between USD15 billion and USD17 billion dependant on "achieving positive adjusted jaws each financial year".The jaws ratio - a key financial performance indicator - is the difference between the percentage growth in income and the percentage growth in expenses.For the interim period, return on tangible equity stood at 9.7% and the jaws ratio at negative 5.6%.AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said the negative jaws was a result of the company's "heavy investment" programme."Management have said they will deliver positive jaws by the end of the year and the market is likely to hold them to this pledge," Mould noted.FTSE 100 miners
Rio Tinto,
Anglo American and
Antofagasta were down 1.5%, 1.5% and 1.4% respectively at midday."Miners continue to be one of the biggest laggards on the blue-chip index with ongoing concerns surrounding the economic strength of China and a firm US dollar weighing on their performance," said XTB chief market analyst David Cheetham.In the FTSE 250,
Morgan Advanced Materials gained 5.0% after Berenberg raised its rating on the ceramic materials manufacturer to Buy from Hold.
John Laing Infrastructure Fund rose 3.3% to 144.6 pence after it agreed to be taken over in a deal valuing the company at GBP1.45 billion. The infrastructure fund said that the offer values its shares at 142.5p each. Shareholders also still would receive JLIF's 3.57p final dividend, declared back in March. The offer price represents a 24% premium to the company's last closing price of 118.2p on July 13, the day prior to the start of the takeover discussions.
Spire Healthcare tumbled 22% to the bottom of the mid-cap index after the private hospital operator guided to a 2018 profit "materially lower" than the year before, following declines in its NHS business and increased investment over the first half of the year.For the six months ended June, Spire expects revenue to drop 1.1% to GBP475 million from the GBP481.0 million reported the year prior. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation is expected to fall to GBP66 million from GBP83.2 million the year before. This would represent an Ebitda margin of around 14% from 18.1% the year before.Spire Chief Executive Officer Justin Ash explained "current difficult market conditions" affecting all operators had a "greater impact" on its business than it expected.
Mediclinic International, which holds a 29.9% stake in Spire, was down 3.1%.Office workspace provider
IWG slumped 21% after it ended takeover talks with three potential suitors and reported a fall in interim profit. The FTSE 250 constituent said it has terminated discussions with three bidders, namely Starwood Capital European Operations, Terra Firma Investments and TDR Capital - saying none were capable of delivering a deal at a recommendable price. Separately, for the six months to June 30, IWG recorded pretax profit of GBP54.3 million, down from GBP80.8 million in the year ago period, as revenue edged higher to GBP1.20 billion from GBP1.17 billion.
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