More than £160billion has been wiped off the value of Apple after China banned government officials from using iPhones at work.
On another turbulent session in New York, shares in the US tech giant fell more than 3 per cent, taking losses in two days to 7per cent.
That has slashed Apple’s value by £160billion – though it is still worth a whopping £2.2trillion. The sell-off was sparked by reports that China has banned officials from using its smartphones.
US Congressman Mike Gallagher accused Beijing of unfairly punishing Western businesses to boost Chinese rivals.
‘This is textbook Chinese Communist Party (CCP) behaviour,’ he said. ‘American tech companies seeking to cosy up to the CCP must realise the clock is ticking.’
China ban: Apple shares fell more than 3%, taking losses in two days to 7%. That has slashed Apple’s value by £160bn – though it is still worth a whopping £2.2trillion
In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.2 per cent, or 15.58 points, to 7441.72 while the FTSE 250 was down 0.4 per cent, or 67.97 points, to 18,383.85.
Jet2 rose as the airline and package holiday firm cashed in on strong summer and winter bookings despite a turbulent couple of weeks for the industry.
Blazing wildfires in Rhodes and an air traffic control failure in the UK have caused misery and mayhem. Jet2, which took a £13million hit from the ‘significant’ disruption.
Despite the chaos, it said a surge in late bookings over July, August and this month, alongside increased demand for winter holidays, meant it should make £48million to £520million of profit in the year to the end of March 2024, ahead of market forecasts of £466.5million. It gained 6.3 per cent, or 65p, to 1091p.
The London Stock Exchange Group slid 1.1 per cent, or 88p, to 8176p after a consortium of investors including Blackstone and Thomson Reuters raised around £2billion by selling 25.5m of its shares.
Nursing much heavier losses was Synthomer as the polymer maker tapped investors for £276million to shore up finances as revenue fell 14.7 per cent to £1.1billion in the first six months of 2023.
Stock Watch – Directa Plus
Directa Plus rose 10.3 per cent, or 4.5p, to 48p after the graphene producer landed the largest contract in its history.
Its environmental services business Setcar won a three-year deal with the biggest steel producer in Romania worth up to £7million.
Setcar’s processing system and technology will help convert oily waste built up when making steel into a raw material that can be reused.
Singer Capital Markets analyst Tom Like said Directa was close to a ‘commercial breakout’.
Synthomer also swung to a loss of £6.7million, having made a profit of £114.7million during the same period a year earlier.
Shares plunged 26 per cent, or 15.8p, to 45p – taking losses for the year to nearly 70 per cent.
There was little respite for Genus after the livestock breeder warned the Chinese pig market is likely to remain volatile amid outbreaks of disease and weaker demand. Profits remained flat at £71.5million in the year to the end of June. Shares fell by 7.7 per cent, or 172p, to 2062p.
Energean posted higher revenues as the oil and gas firm ramped up production in Israel.
Revenues soared 73 per cent to £472million in the six months to the end of June while output nearly tripled. It rose 0.2 per cent, or 2p, to 1119p.
Safestore sank 6.7 per cent, or 57.5p, to 804p after the storage unit provider warned earnings for this year are likely to come in at the lower end of analyst forecasts.
Record first-half profits for Playtech put the gambling software firm on track to beat annual forecasts but it dipped 0.2 per cent, or 1p, to 523.5p.
Hilton Food, which supplies meat and ready-to-eat meals to supermarkets, reiterated its annual forecasts amid an ongoing recovery in its UK seafood business.
With group revenues up by 5.2 per cent to £2.1billion in the 28 weeks to July 16, the company’s shares rose 1 per cent, or 7p, to 687p.
Steady trading at De La Rue meant that it remained on track to break even for the first half of its financial year while profit was likely to be around £20million for the year to the end of March 2024. It rose 3.5 per cent, or 1.9p, to 555.9p.
Sylvania Platinum, which produces and develops metals such as platinum and palladium, climbed 5.7 per cent, or 4p, to 74p after it maintained an annual dividend payout of 8p a share.
