London close: Stocks track gains on Wall Street after jobs report, despite tariff news
London stocks recovered from early selling after reciprocal trade sanctions between the US and China kicked-in overnight, helped by a better-than-expected reading on the state of the US jobs market in June.
In the UK meanwhile, ministers continued to squabble over their various Brexit customs plans.
Significantly, perhaps, late on Friday afternoon the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said: "I am ready to adapt our offer should the UK red lines change," Barnier told the Institute of International and European Affairs in Brussels.
"Our objective has always been to find an agreement with the UK, not against," he said.
Despite the resulting bid in Sterling, the FTSE 100 was up 14.48 points or 0.19% at 7,617.70 by the end of trading, while cable was 0.27% higher at 1.32611, having earlier hit an intra-day low of 1.3203.
On a related note, according to a poll conducted by Reuters, analysts expected the pound to be at $1.39 versus the US dollar in a year's time, although that was slightly less than the $1.41 they were predicting in June.
To take note of as well, although investors were still quite concerned about the risk of an escalation in global trade tensions, some analysts thought there were signs of restraint in Beijing's response.
"Besides criticising the US move and vowing to retaliate, today’s statement by China’s Ministry of Commerce also indicated restraints and continued commitment to reform and globalisation," said Louis Kuijs at Oxford Economics.
Neverheless, China's commerce ministry did dub America's tariffs "a violation of world trade rules" and said Washington had "initiated the largest-scale trade war in economic history."
US non-farm payrolls meanwhile increased by 213,000 in June, versus expectations for a reading of 195,000 and alongside upwards revisions to prior months' figures.
Wage growth on the other hand rose at a month-on-month pace of only 0.2% (consensus: 0.3%), but investors welcome an increase in the labour force participation rate.
UK data was limited to the Halifax housing survey, which showed house prices in the three months to June were down 0.7% on the preceding three months, and annual growth slowing to 1.8% from the 1.9% for May (consensus: 1.6%). On a monthly basis, prices rose by 0.3% in June to £225,654.
House prices continue to remain broadly flat, said Halifax's managing director Russell Galley. “Activity levels, like house price growth, have softened compared with the final months of last year. Mortgage approvals have been in the low range of 63,000 to 67,000 since the start of the year, whilst home sales have remained flat so far this year."
In company news, shares in Inmarsat sank as US satellite rival EchoStar Corporation revealed that the UK company had earlier this week rejected a 532p-per share takeover offer. EchoStar said that it was continuing talks to try and agree a deal.
BCA Marketplace reversed early losses after it revealed that private equity group Apax had walked away after the operator of WeBuyAnyCar.com rejected two takeover proposals.
Rolls-Royce finished flat even as it agreed to sell its commercial marine business to Norway's Kongsberg for net proceeds of around £350m to £400m.
Going the other way, ITV topped the FTSE 100 leaderboard thanks to an upbeat note from Societe Generale, which upgraded its recommendation on the shares to 'buy' with a price target of 220p upped from 150p. Analysts said the shares look relatively cheap and noted ITV's potential as a takeover target in light of the takeover battle for Sky.
Rubber glove maker Essentra acquired Sweden-based Nolato Hertila for a cash consideration of approximately SEK 58m (£4.9m), to expand its components division's product range.
Ahead of an expected tense annual shareholder meeting, Stobart Group revealed that chief financial officer Richard Laycock has decided to step down. The shares were in the green however, with the Southend Airport owner saying it has started the new trading year trading "satisfactorily".
Virgin Money and suitor CYBG were both higher after an announcement from Virgin Money the previous day that it had reached a capital agreement with the Prudential Regulation Authority on new models for its mortgage portfolio which will reduce the applicable risk weighting. With an estimated increase in its core tier 1 ratio to around 16% as of 30 June from 13.8% at the end of December, analysts said this freed up approximately £200m of core tier 1 capital.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,617.70 0.19%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,618.34 -0.01%
techMARK (TASX) 3,529.13 0.48%
FTSE 100 - Risers
ITV (ITV) 180.40p 4.28%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,068.00p 2.12%
National Grid (NG.) 876.50p 2.03%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 191.00p 1.79%
Just Eat (JE.) 820.40p 1.76%
WPP (WPP) 1,190.00p 1.71%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,070.00p 1.57%
Relx plc (REL) 1,655.50p 1.25%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,567.00p 1.22%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 783.40p 1.08%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,492.00p -4.30%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 330.20p -3.70%
Rightmove (RMV) 5,076.00p -2.68%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,123.50p -2.26%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,870.00p -2.04%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,716.00p -1.72%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 649.00p -1.43%
Royal Mail (RMG) 491.00p -1.41%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,701.20p -1.18%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 316.70p -1.06%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Pennon Group (PNN) 812.40p 3.73%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 242.00p 3.42%
Charter Court Financial Services Group (CCFS) 349.10p 2.98%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 2,916.00p 2.97%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 159.10p 2.71%
Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 2,710.00p 2.26%
CYBG (CYBG) 344.20p 2.26%
IP Group (IPO) 130.20p 2.04%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 931.50p 1.97%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 1,262.00p 1.94%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Inmarsat (ISAT) 483.80p -8.02%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 459.60p -5.55%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 189.65p -4.84%
Just Group (JUST) 129.10p -3.94%
SIG (SHI) 133.00p -3.83%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,328.00p -3.63%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,486.00p -3.27%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 104.60p -3.06%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 117.75p -2.77%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 172.60p -2.76%