The Market Close - Triple trouble leaves market down 80 points. - Collins Sarri Statham Investments

Today's Closing Update

U.S. Shares were mixed as investors looked past North Korea’s firing of another missile over Japan and digested some disappointing economic data, leaving major indexes on track for solid weekly gains.

European and U.K. Shares dipped as another missile launch by North Korea softened appetite for riskier banking and mining stocks but remained on track for their strongest week since July, with investors increasingly ignoring geopolitical turmoil.

Investec said it expected operating profits for the six months to the end of September to be comfortably ahead of the prior period. Investec said it had continued to see macro uncertainty in its key operating geographies during the period. A pre-close briefing statement said: ‘The UK economy has been growing at a slower pace, with the increase in inflation squeezing household spending whilst Brexit continues to create uncertainty. ‘The South African economy came out of recession in the second quarter but business and consumer confidence remain low and the political environment remains challenging. This has been somewhat offset by supportive global markets and an improved outlook for the global economy.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile through Japanese airspace shortly before 2300 BST on Thursday evening, raising already heightened tensions in the region. According to South Korea’s military, the missile reached an estimated altitude of 770km while travelling 3,700km before splashing down into the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of Hokkaido. This follows the North’s threats earlier in the day to use a nuclear weapon to “sink” Japan and turn the US into “ashes and darkness” for agreeing on new UN sanctions this week.

Safestore saw continuing positive trading across the group in the third quarter with particularly strong momentum in its Paris business. Group revenues rose to £32.9m – up 12.5% at constant exchange rates – with like-for-like revenues up 3.2% at constant currencies. The group said UK like-for-like revenues were up 2.3% while in Paris like-for-like revenues rose by 5.7%.4

Rio Tinto said Friday Chief Financial Officer Chris Lynch plans to retire by the end of September. A replacement will be announced in due course, the company said. Lynch joined the Rio Tinto board in September 2011 and took up the role of chief financial officer in April 2013. “Chris has made an outstanding contribution to the performance of Rio Tinto since he was appointed CFO in 2013 and I would like to personally thank him for his wise counsel and support since my appointment as chief executive. He has committed to remain with the group to ensure a smooth transition,” said Chief Executive Jean-Sebastian Jacques.

Purplebricks was set to formally launch its business in the US later on Friday. The launch will kick off in Los Angeles before extending across California and other target key states thereafter. The company said this was in line with the region by region rollout successfully adopted for entry in the UK and Australia markets. Purplebricks said California is the “natural launching point” for US expansion as it is the leading US state in terms of both number of annual real estate transactions and estimated commission income. Although California, at 12.6m households has less than half the UK equivalent, the level of commission income in California is more than double that of the UK.

Oil prices fell as global markets weakened following North Korea’s latest missile launch, but crude remained close to five-month highs reached this week on bullish demand forecasts and US refineries restarting.

Gold prices fell after a European Central Bank official called for scaling back the bank’s stimulus programme, although losses were capped when weaker than expected U.S. economic data raised questions about further rate hikes.

Market Close

Market	Index	Change	% Change
UK 100	7,215.5	-79.9	-1.1%
UK 250	19,378.2	-145.8	-0.8%
GER 30	12,523.4	-17.0	-0.1%
FRA 40	5,211.4	-13.8	-0.3%
U.S. 30	22,243.56	+40.08	+0.2%
U.S. 500	2,497.2	+1.6	+0.1%
OIL (BRENT)	55.63	+0.16	+0.3%
GOLD	1,321.54	-8.20	-0.6%

UK Risers & Fallers

Company	Price	Change	% Change
Imperial Brands	3327.5	+67	+2.1%
ITV	158.2	+2.2	+1.4%
British American Tobacco	4741	+48.5	+1.0%
Carnival	4783	-317	-6.2%
Provident Financial	232.4	-35.5	-4.3%
Aggreko	863.25	-37.5	-4.2%

Reported Economic Data

Time/Date	Previous	Forecast	Outcome
1:30pm: U.S.Core Retail Sales m/m	0.5%	0.5%	0.2%
1:30pm: U.S. Retail Sales m/m	0.6%	0.1%	-0.2%
1:30pm: Empire State Manufacturing Index	25.2	18.2	24.4