London midday: Stocks stay flat as earnings roll in; Shell under the cosh

London stocks were still basically halfway through Thursday's session as investors mulled over the progress made at the meeting between US President Trump and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker a day earlier and waded through a barrage of earnings reports, with oil giant Shell under the cosh after its second-quarter numbers.

The US-EU meeting in Washington on Wednesday yielded some progress as the US agreed to work towards lowering trade barriers with the EU. The two sides said they would work towards zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers and zero subsidies on non-auto goods. In addition, they agreed to up trade in services and agriculture, which include greater US soy bean exports to the EU.

However, the breakthrough was not enough to boost London's stock market, and by midday, the FTSE 100 was still steady, at 7,656.93, while the pound was up 0.1% versus the euro at 1.1252 and 0.1% lower against the dollar at 1.3175.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said it was not quite a ''Super Thursday' of UK earnings, with much of London's commodity sector glowing red to hold back the blue chip index. "The FTSE has really struggled to break out of the 7,650 to 7,700 trading bracket of the last few weeks, with such an over-stuffed corporate calendar doing it no favours."

In corporate news, Royal Dutch Shell was giving off a red heat as it launched a $25bn (£19bn) share buyback that did not quite do enough to impress investors over the oil giant's second-quarter profit being well below forecasts. Earnings rose less than expected in all segments, particularly upstream and oil products.

Elsewhere in the resources sector, Anglo American fell after it reported a drop in first-half profit, while KAZ Minerals climbed higher as it increased copper production 18% in the first half.

Compass was on the back foot even as it posted a rise in third-quarter revenue and backed its full-year expectations, while asset manager Schroders slipped after reporting an increase in first-half pre-tax profit and assets under administration and net inflows and lifting interim dividend by 3%.

Security software company Sophos was weaker as it said earnings in the first quarter were hit by slow billings growth and higher costs.

Drinks maker Diageo was hit by profit taking even as it unveiled a fresh £2bn share buyback and said annual operating profit rose 3.7%.

Johnson Matthey lost ground after saying first-quarter sales were in line with its expectations and reaffirming its full-year guidance, while Cobham was under the cosh after saying it will book at £40m charge in the first half over a dispute with Boeing over its refueling programme.

Intu Properties was trading lower as it announced the departure of chief executive officer David Fischel and said it had experienced a "resilient" first-half performance in a challenging market.

On the upside, British American Tobacco was in the green after saying first-half revenue rose 57%, while Smith & Nephew and AstraZeneca rallied on the back of their half-year numbers.

Sky ticked up posted 9% jump in full-year core earnings, while Relx advanced after it said net profit and revenue in the first half fell but reiterated its outlook, and engineer Vesuvius surged as it posted a jump in first-half profit and revenue.

Halfords, Royal Mail and SSE were among the companies whose stock went ex-dividend.

In broker note action, Beazley was upgraded to 'buy' at Berenberg, Drax was lifted to 'add' at AlphaValue and Ferrexpo was boosted to 'hold' by Liberum.

Hammerson was cut to 'equalweight' at Morgan Stanley, Informa was downgraded to 'hold' at Kepler Cheuvreux and ASOS was reduced to 'sell' at Investec.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,656.93 -0.02%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,734.17 -0.09%
techMARK (TASX) 3,553.06 0.04%

FTSE 100 - Risers

British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,181.00p 5.24%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,367.50p 3.52%
Relx plc (REL) 1,726.00p 2.86%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 683.40p 2.71%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 5,696.00p 2.39%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,893.00p 2.03%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,306.50p 1.99%
Croda International (CRDA) 5,014.00p 1.93%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,348.00p 1.78%
BT Group (BT.A) 226.25p 1.69%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

SSE (SSE) 1,265.00p -5.49%
Schroders (SDR) 3,081.00p -4.38%
ITV (ITV) 165.30p -3.90%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,113.50p -2.84%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,499.60p -2.77%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,651.50p -2.70%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,603.50p -2.43%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,597.00p -2.26%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,620.00p -1.07%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 323.00p -0.98%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Vesuvius (VSVS) 622.00p 6.87%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 4,860.00p 4.52%
esure Group (ESUR) 199.70p 3.74%
Energean Oil & Gas (ENOG) 532.80p 3.26%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 360.80p 3.20%
National Express Group (NEX) 411.40p 3.16%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,358.00p 3.13%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 6,340.00p 3.09%
Renishaw (RSW) 5,580.00p 3.05%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 116.00p 2.47%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Cobham (COB) 117.95p -10.37%
Intu Properties (INTU) 167.40p -6.97%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 477.90p -6.95%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 543.50p -4.90%
Halfords Group (HFD) 335.84p -4.37%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 85.95p -3.97%
Hammerson (HMSO) 510.60p -3.48%
IP Group (IPO) 119.54p -3.29%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 501.00p -3.28%
Just Group (JUST) 107.80p -3.14%