Stock prices in London were mostly lower but the FTSE 100 was held up by rising oil prices following Iran’s attack on Israel, as investors await US unemployment data.
The FTSE 100 index was up 6.31 points, or 0.1%, at 8,282.58. The FTSE 250 was down 147.04 points, or 0.7%, at 20,767.66, and the AIM All-Share was down 2.58 points, or 0.4%, at 734.22.
The Cboe UK 100 was up slightly at 828.88, the Cboe UK 250 was down 1.0% at 18,234.25, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.1% at 16,809.54.
‘The FTSE 100’s large exposure to the oil and defence sectors meant the index moved higher in response to increased tensions in the Middle East,’ said AJ Bell’s Russ Mould.
‘Brent Crude oil prices jumped 2.2% to $75.19 per barrel as traders worried about potential disruptions to supply from the region. That pushed up shares in BP and Shell...It’s times like these that investors also gravitate towards supposed safe-haven assets, namely companies that might be in demand in both good and bad times. That explains why drugs group AstraZeneca and British Gas owner Centrica were in demand.’
AstraZeneca was up 0.8% in London at midday, while Centrica gained 0.5%. BP and Shell were both up 2.6%.
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.4%.
The eurozone unemployment rate was stable in August, according to official data on Wednesday.
The jobless rate remained at 6.4% in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, unchanged from July, Eurostat said. The reading was in line with market consensus, as cited by FXStreet. August’s reading was lower than 6.6% a year before.
Across the single-currency bloc, Eurostat estimates 10.925 million people were unemployed in August. This was a 94,000 decrease from July, and a 233,000 drop from the year before.
The pound was quoted at $1.3279 at midday on Wednesday in London, up compared to $1.3276 at the equities close on Tuesday. The euro stood at $1.1070, up against $1.1064. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥144.69, up compared to JP¥143.87.
In the FTSE 100, JD Sports Fashion lost 4.4%.
The retailer reported pretax profit for the half ended June 30 of £126.3 million, down from £353.7 million a year prior. Adjusted pretax profit however grew to £405.6 million from £397.8 million.
JD Sports said its adjusting items, which are what it deems to be one-off costs, include spending related to its acquisition of US rival sportswear brand Hibbett earlier this year, costs related to the closure of a distribution centre in Derby and an updated Genesis put and call option valuation.
Revenue rose to £5.03 billion from £4.78 billion the year before, and JD Sports declared a dividend per share of 0.33 pence, up from 0.30p.
Additionally, the firm reiterated its previous pretax profit and adjusting items guidance range of £955 million to £1.04 billion.
Chief Executive Officer Regis Schultz said : ‘Our acquisition of Hibbett, Inc, which completed just before the period end, is a key milestone in our international development and advances the global nature of the group through our strengthened position in the US. I remain confident in the delivery of our exciting growth plans for North America and that the group is well positioned to continue growing share in the world’s largest sportswear market.’
In the FTSE 250, AO World gained 0.2%.
AO World and musicMagpie have agreed the terms of a recommended cash acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of musicMagpie by AO Ltd.
According to the terms of the acquisition, each musicMagpie shareholder will be entitled to receive 9.07 pence per share in cash for each musicMagpie share. The buy values musicMagpie at just under £10.0 million.
musicMagpie directors recommend the acquisition, and are to support it with 12.3% shareholdings, while AO World’s offer respectively has support from other investors for 54% in total.
Shares in musicMagpie were up 49% following the news.
Elsewhere, GenIP, a technology business operating within the generative artificial intelligence space, announced the admission of its entire issued share capital to trading on AIM at 0800 BST Wednesday under the ticker ’GNIP’.
The news follows a placing by Novum Securities, as well as a company subscription, for a combined total of 4.5 million ordinary shares at 39p per ordinary share, raising gross proceeds of £1.8 million.
GenIP lost 26% around midday, trading at 29p each. Tekcapital, which holds a 63% stake in the company, fell 12%.
On AIM, Alkemy Capital lost 8.8%.
For the six months ended July 31, the London-based investment vehicle reported a pretax loss of £677,049, narrowed from £1.2 million a year prior.
However, directors are currently considering a variety of funding options to balance the immediate cash flow needs of the business, and to accelerate the project development timeframe. As successful execution of these fundraising options cannot be assured, the firm said there is a a ‘material uncertainty exists’ which may cast significant doubt on the ability of the group continue as a going concern.
Directors nevertheless ‘have a reasonable expectation’ that the company will continue in operational existence for the next 12 months.
Stocks in New York were called lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called 0.3% lower, the S&P 500 index 0.2% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite 0.1% lower.
US vice presidential contenders JD Vance and Tim Walz faced off in a surprisingly civil debate Tuesday, despite tense moments on the hot topics of migration, abortion and the threat of war in the Middle East, reported AFP.
Republican Vance and Democrat Walz dug into policy and avoided the bitter personal attacks that presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris exchanged during an often heated clash in September.
But the shadow of their bosses hung over the CBS debate, with Walz attacking Trump as a threat to democracy and unfit to lead America on the world stage, and Vance slamming Harris’s record on the economy and illegal migration as part of President Joe Biden’s administration.
A key moment came near the end, when Vance refused to say whether he backed Trump’s false claims to have won the 2020 election against Biden.
Minnesota Governor Walz accused him of a ‘damning non-answer’ and blasted Trump over the January 6, 2021 attacks on the US Capitol by pro-Trump supporters.
There was also a fiery moment when Vance, who mostly restrained his persona as Trump’s attack dog, had his microphone briefly muted when the moderators tried to factcheck him on migration.
After the debate, Trump cancelled a television interview on the US channel CBS, the programme ‘60 Minutes’.
Trump’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung denied that the former president had agreed to participate in the interview, writing on X that ‘there were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in.’
The programme said the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris will appear as planned in Monday’s broadcast and that the original invitation to Trump stands.
Brent oil was quoted at $75.79 a barrel at midday in London on Wednesday, up from $74.51 late Tuesday.
President Joe Biden said that the US was ‘fully supportive’ of Israel after Iran’s ballistic missile attacks, describing Tehran’s assault as ‘defeated and ineffective’.
‘The attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective, and this is a testament to Israeli military capability and the US military,’ Biden told reporters at the White House.
‘Make no mistake, the US is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.’
Asked by reporters what the response towards Iran would be, Biden replied: ‘That’s in active discussion right now. That remains to be seen.’
According to Swissquote Bank’s Ipek Ozkardeskaya said: ‘The first months of the war pushed oil prices higher, yet the conflict had little sustainable impact beyond April, when traders started giving more weight to the slowing Chinese and world economy than the supply disruptions – considering that the world was fed enough oil from the Middle East and elsewhere to worry about the Middle East disruptions. But if Iran – which produces around 3 million barrels per day – gets seriously involved in the conflict, we could see the price of a barrel remain under positive pressure for a prolonged period.’
‘This being said, the geopolitical tensions have a limited impact in the medium to long run price trends, and the gains on the back of tensions should be given back with de-escalation and/or as the market gets used to the headlines and divert focus to something else.’
Gold was quoted at $2,648.20 an ounce, lower against $2,660.31.
Still to come on Wednesday’s economic calendar, there is unemployment and EIA crude oil stocks data from the US.
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