(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 in London opened higher on Wednesday, while the FTSE 250 gave back some ground, as the market braced to see what the repercussions of further conflict in the Middle East might be.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 28.91 points, or 0.3%, at 8,305.56. The FTSE 250 was down just 0.13 points at 20,914.57, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.60 points, or 0.1%, at 737.40.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.4% at 831.60, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.2% at 18,378.91, and the Cboe Small Companies was up slightly at 16,799.65.
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down slightly.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3293 early on Wednesday in London, up compared to USD1.3276 at the equities close on Tuesday. The euro stood at USD1.1068, up against USD1.1064. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY144.07, up compared to JPY143.87.
In the FTSE 100, JD Sports Fashion lost 4.4%.
The retailer reported pretax profit for the half ended June 30 of GBP126.3 million, down from GBP353.7 million a year prior. Adjusted pretax profit however grew to GBP405.6 million from GBP397.8 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 GBP5.03 billion from GBP4.78 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 GBP955 million to GBP1.04 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 0.5%.
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 GBP10.0 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 48% 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 GBP1.8 million.
In Asia on Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 2.2%. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 5.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.1%.
In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.4%, the S&P 500 down 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.5%.
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.
Brent oil was quoted at USD75.08 a barrel early in London on Wednesday, up from USD74.51 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 USD2,652.40 an ounce, lower against USD2,660.31.
Still to come on Wednesday's economic calendar, there are a number of speeches from European Central Bank members, followed by unemployment and EIA crude oil stocks data from the US.
By Holly Beveridge, Alliance News senior reporter
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