Shares in the London-listed miner Kazakhmys (KAZ) continued to head lower on Thursday, losing nearly 4% of their value, after the company reported a sharp drop in sales and earnings for the first six months of 2012. The company also slashed its dividend.
“This follows the mining sector trend and is widely accepted given the troubled global macro-environment, which is pushing costs higher and lowering both demand volumes and commodity prices,” says Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.
Meanwhile, the alcoholic beverage behemoth Diageo (DGE) saw shares pop up by 1% after announcing that it would boost its dividend. The company, which sells Captain Morgan rum and Guinness beer, reported a rise in net sales and overall operating profit in the first six months of 2012, based on strong growth in emerging markets. However, the results show continued sales weakness in the European market.
A rise in Diageo, a fall for Kazakhmys and a mixed day in the markets resulted in the FTSE 100 index ending the day unchanged. The FTSE 100 added 2 points to close at 5,777. The FTSE 250 index closed at 11,467, after edging down by 28 points.
“European markets enjoyed a short lived early rally in trading on Thursday following hopes for further Federal Reserve stimulus and policy easing in China after last night’s FOMC minutes release and weak Chinese data,” said Fiona Cincotta, a market analyst at City Index. “However gains ebbed away as trading progressed under the pressure of lacklustre European PMI data, which indicated a further contraction for the troubled zone.”