Antofagasta profits take a hit, Royal Mail fined £50m for competition law breach

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 21 points higher on Tuesday, having closed down 0.32% at 7,642.45 on Monday.

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Lower sales tonnages and copper grades hit interim profits at Antofagasta although the miner said it expected a better second half. Pre-tax profits fell by 32.4% to $465.6m, while underlying profits fell 16.2% to $904.2m on revenue up 3.6% to $2.12bn as higher realised prices offset lower copper sales volumes. Group copper production and net cash cost guidance for the full year was unchanged at 705-740,000 tonnes at $1.35/lb as grades continue to improve over the rest of the year.

Ofcom has fined Royal Mail £50m for a "serious breach" of competition law, after finding that the company "abused its dominant position" in the letter delivery market. Royal Mail said it will appeal the decision, arguing that the Ofcom's objection to its price increase in the bulk letters market announced in 2014, was never implemented or paid and "considers that the decision is without merit and fundamentally flawed".

Plastic piping and ventilation systems manufacturer Polypipe Group issued its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June on Tuesday, saying it ended the period in line with expectations, with revenue ahead 0.1% at £210.2m. The FTSE 250 firm said its underlying operating profit fell 4.2% year-on-year to £36.3m, while its underlying operating margin was 17.3% - down 70 basis points. Polypipe’s management said it remained “confident” of delivering its full year expectations.

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A TV advertising campaign to warn the public about pension scams is being launched by UK regulators as new figures show that victims are losing an average of £91,000 each. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Pensions Regulator have joined forces on the campaign to raise awareness of the most common tactics used by fraudsters. – Guardian

The amount polluters pay for emitting carbon in the EU has hit a 10-year high, in a blow for coal power station owners and a boost for renewable energy. The price of carbon in the bloc’s emissions trading scheme reached €18 (£16) per tonne on Monday, triple the level a year ago. About 12,000 factories and power stations have to pay for every tonne of carbon they emit under the scheme, but for years an oversupply of permits has meant the cost has languished at about €5 per tonne. That is too low to spur companies to lower emissions. – Guardian

The UK will have nine million more pensioners within the next 50 years, official figures have shown. The number of people aged over 65 will nearly double to more than 20 million by 2066, according to the Office for National Statistics. The biggest increase will be in the over-85s age group, which will more than treble. – Telegraph

President Erdogan’s reaction to Turkey’s financial crisis was likened to King Canute trying to hold back the tide amid criticism of the country’s inadequate response to the threat of a full-blown economic debacle. Turkey is the latest in a growing list of emerging market economies to be sent into a tailspin, spooking overseas markets and leading to pressure on policymakers to step in with a more robust response to halt contagion. – The Times

The Easyjet billionaire Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is pursuing two Latin American airlines, accusing them of brand theft for using the word “easy”. Easygroup secured an order in the High Court last month calling on the Honduran airline Easy Sky and its Mexican parent company Global Air to desist from using the Easy Sky brand on the side of its aircraft or from using the brand as a domain name on the internet or social media.- The Times

Liam Fox’s trade department has attempted to bury the hatchet with Britain’s ports and shipping industries with talks over new government funding. Ministers have started work on a five-year plan for the maritime sector, just weeks after its leaders attacked a “chronic lack of direct industry experience” at the heart of government. – The Times

US close

US stocks ended in the red on Monday, unable to hold on to earlier gains as worries about Turkey continued to undermine sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.5% at 25,187.70, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 2,821.93 and the Nasdaq slipped 0.3% to 7,819.71.

Measures announced by Turkey’s central bank, including a pledge to provide "all the liquidity the banks need" to ensure stability, did little to assuage investors. Domestic banks will also be able to borrow foreign-exchange deposits from the central bank at a one-month maturity and one-week maturities.

Although the lira did pare some of its losses over the weekend, its slide soon resumed, with weakness spreading to other currencies, hitting the South African rand, the Russian ruble and the Indian rupee.

Analysts argued that investors would have liked to see the central bank take more affirmative action, such as hiking interest rates. Rabobank said the measures announced were seen as just "a first step in several needed to limit further turmoil".