Wednesday, July 25: Miners gave back gains seen yesterday as precious-metal miner Fresnillo reported higher Q2 gold and silver production but reduced full year guidance for silver output, leading peers and the FTSE 100 0.66% lower. Overnight trade saw a green session in Asia despite Chinese stimulus uncertainty whilst the S&P 500 closed higher on the back of the expectation of a robust earnings season following upbeat results from Alphabet.

Wizz Air(-3.26%) slipped intraday as it announced a pretax profit fall of 14% to €52.1m resulting in a profit guidance miss despite a revenue increase of 18% to €553.4m. Profit came in lower over the Q1 period as the airline was hit by increased costs and air traffic disruption. Staff costs rose 37% year-on-year at €46.4m, whilst fuel costs leapt 32% to €154.7m. If that wasn’t enough Airport, handling and en-route charges were also 23% higher at €138.9m. Both passenger ticket revenue and ancillary revenue continued their strong upward trajectories at +25.0% and 9.3% respectively.

ITV(+0.81%) crept higher after reporting an increase in first half pretax profit after a programming a successful World Cup and Love Island schedule, which saw total advertising revenue grow 2%, including an impressive 48% revenue growth online. The media group also announced plans to invest more in its own content and strengthen its capabilities as an integrated producer broadcaster.

Across Europe, indices were lower at the close with the FTSE 100 -0.66%, the DAX 30 -0.87% and the CAC 40 -0.14%.