The abrupt, agreement-free end to the Trump-Kim Jong-un summit in Hanoi, alongside a worse than forecast set of manufacturing and services PMIs from China, ensured another rough start for the European indices.
Losing another 50 points, the FTSE found itself under 7060 for the first time in over 3 weeks. While most of its major sectors were in the red, its miners really suffered, the likes of Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and BHP Group (LON:BHPB) shedding 2% apiece as the Chinese manufacturing sector continued to contract for the 3rd month in a row.
The UK index likely would have been worse off if the pound hadn’t pulled back from its recent peak. Against the dollar it was down 0.2%, taking cable to $1.328, while against the euro it slipped 0.3% to sit at €1.1666. Even then sterling still remains close to the 7- and 21-month highs struck in the aftermath of Theresa May’s triple-vote announcement.
As for the FTSE’s many reporting companies, they seems to somewhat cancel each other out. Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) was up 6% after it hinted at a ‘slight increase’ in market expectations for 2019, with IAG (LON:ICAG) rising 3.5% as it unveiled a €700 million special divided, a handout that was only slightly spoiled by news that operating profit before exceptional items would be flat in 2019.
RSA Insurance (LON:RSA), however, tumbled 3.5% following news of 26% plunge in underlying pre-tax profit, with packaging firm Mondi (LON:MNDI) shedding just shy of 3% despite a 19% increase in full year underlying core profit.
Investors pressed the ejector seat following Aston Martin's (LON:AML) latest update, the Bond favourite veering off-road as it announced a £30 million fund to deal with any Brexit disruption. Falling nearly 9%, the stock was also hit by a 7% slide in adjusted pre-tax profit, though this was due to one-off costs relating to its IPO, and CEO Andy Palmer’s comments that a Brexit delay would only cause ‘further annoyance’.
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