BUSINESS LIVE: Plus500 profits fall as trading volumes fall

London-listed shares are trading lower this morning, with the FTSE 100 weighed down by shares of miners and oil companies, while concerns about China’s economic recovery and debt-laden real estate market mount.

Energy stocks are down 1.1 percent as crude oil prices decline on concerns about China’s faltering economic recovery and a stronger dollar.

Industrial metal miners are down 1.2 percent following lower base metal prices.

China’s new bank lending plummeted in July and other key credit indicators also weakened, underscoring the faltering economic recovery.

Geopolitical tensions heighten concerns after a Russian warship fired warning shots at a freighter in the southwestern Black Sea on Sunday.

Shares of Plus500 are up 3.2 percent after the UK online trading platform reported higher first-half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization and announced a new share buyback program.

Richard Hunter, Head of Markets at Interactive Investor:

Asian markets got off to a bad start to the week, seemingly under attack from all sides.

Aside from US inflation concerns, the ongoing US-China technology security spat weighed on sentiment, while dollar strength further weighed on the Japanese yen, although this was to some benefit to exporters.

Of particular concern, however, were further signs of weakness in the Chinese real estate sector, with some developers apparently struggling to meet repayments.

The wall of silence on monetary stimulus from the authorities is striking, and it remains to be seen whether this will change following further releases this week on retail sales and industrial production, which are expected to reflect the country’s current woes.

The UK’s lead from other major markets left it nowhere to go, although stock market open losses were limited. In the Premier Index, companies with exposure to China seeded the top of the fallers, including miners, as oil followed an overnight weakness in crude oil to drift lower as well.

“There was a slight interest in defensive stocks, which softened some of the downgrades, leaving the FTSE100 up only 0.8% so far this year.

The FTSE250 has also been under pressure recently as the fallout from likely further rate hikes from the Bank of England accelerates the potential transition to a recessionary environment, with growth remaining marginally positive but difficult to achieve. The FTSE250 has given up all previous gains in the year so far and is currently down 0.3%.”

Scammers, kleptocrats and oligarchs will be able to ‘hide from the public’, it is feared, after ministers halted their efforts to close a loophole against black money.

The surprising move follows the introduction of transparency rules requiring offshore companies with property in England and Wales to name their ultimate owner in a public register of overseas entities.

Nigel Farage has accused NatWest of kicking its review in the direction of closing his bank account ‘into the long grass’.

The banking sector continues to feel the effects of the debanking scandal, which came to light when Coutts closed the former UKIP leader’s account without warning because of his political views.

Sales of Graham Norton’s wine are booming as drinkers increasingly seek out well-known alcohol brands.

The TV presenter’s GN label, which he launched a decade ago, sold more than 3.7 million bottles last year, according to New Zealand maker Invivo.

The company had to buy more vineyards this year to meet demand.

Plus500’s profits fell 43 percent in the first half as the online platform suffered a drop in trading volumes.

Core profit for the six months to the end of June fell to $174.1 million from $305.3 million a year earlier.

Separately, the London-listed company announced a $60 million share buyback.

“In the first half of the year, we executed our strategy to deliver strong performance, leveraging the strength of Plus500’s market-leading proprietary technology and our consistent ability to attract and retain higher value customers over the long term.

“Our increasingly diversified revenue streams, our extensive product offering, our close customer relationships and the structural growth drivers in our end markets enable us to deliver both growth and attractive shareholder returns.

“With continued operational and financial momentum, we have also made significant progress in delivering on our strategic priorities, particularly capitalizing on the attractive growth opportunities in the US futures market and securing new regulatory licenses in the fast-growing UAE market and highly recently in the Bahamas

Our track record of delivering outstanding shareholder returns over the past decade has placed us in the top cohort of companies by total return within the FTSE All-Share Index.”