The FTSE 100 gives up yesterday’s gains after a strong showing in the US and mixed trading in Asia.
Investor sentiment scarred by the poor numbers posted by US tech giants Amazon and Google-owner Alphabet after the close on Wall Street.
Early on the index is down nearly 100 points to trade just above 6,900.
Lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) fails to match the well-received third quarter updates provided by Barclays (BARC) and Lloyds (LLOY). It posts a rise in third-quarter profit on lower expenses, though margins were pressured by competition in the mortgage market and it also announces £160m of impairment charges. The market is unimpressed marking the shares 5% lower to 222.8p.
For the three months through September, the bank's bottom line profit grew 14% to £448m on-year, while its operating profit grew 10% to £961m. RBS says income was boosted by lower indemnity insurance recoveries and lower insurance losses.
British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) reports increased profit amid rising passenger numbers for the nine months through September even as rising fuel costs and adverse currency movements weighed on performance.
For the nine months to 30 September, profit before tax rose 7.6% to €2.45bn and total revenue rose 5.1% €18.35bn.
Operating profit before exceptional items rose 7.3% to €2.58bn for the nine months from €2.4bn a year earlier, while passenger revenue rose 5.3% to €16.33bn for the nine months, supported by 7.7% increase in passenger numbers.
Profits are dented by a 13.5% increase in fuel costs, while passenger revenue is weighed downed by weak LATAM performance owing to a deteriorating macro-economic environment.
Mining firm Glencore (GLEN) maintains full-year output guidance as it reports an increase in coal and a jump in cobalt production for the third quarter of the year. The shares dip 2.2% to 296.2p.
For the three months to 30 September, copper production rose 21% to 366,900 tonnes from a year earlier, coal production rose 16% to 34.7m tonnes and cobalt production jumped 66% to 11,800 tonnes.
Car dealership Pendragon (PDG) downgrades its annual profit guidance after new global vehicle testing standards disrupted supplies and hurt revenue.
Today’s statement essentially just puts some flesh on the bones of a profit warning already delivered on 19 October and the shares dip 1.1% to 26.2p.
The company said it now expected to post a full-year underlying pre-tax profit of around £50m, down from the £60.4m it posted last year.
Revenue in the third quarter slumped 6.4%, or by 7.2% on a like-for-like basis, as used car revenue fell 4.1% and new car revenue fell 9.7%.
On the bright side, gross profit in the used car business jumped 20%, though in the new car business it slipped 0.3%. After sales revenue fell 3.5%, while aftersales gross profit fell 3.1%.
Small cap butcher Crawshaw (CRAW:AIM) sinks 17% to 2p as it confirms media speculation it is considering an equity fundraise as part of a restructuring of the business.
Education-focused virtual reality company VR Education (VRE:AIM) says its annual revenue would be significantly below expectations following a delay launching a key product on PlayStation. The shares sink 29.4% on the warning to 8.12p.
The group's Titanic VR had already launched on PC, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality. A significant proportion of sales, however, were expected to be generated on PlayStation. VR Education says it remained confident of launching on PlayStation this year.
