London stocks were down but off earlier lows by midday on Thursday as investors digested the latest policy announcement from the Bank of England.
The FTSE 100 was 0.2% lower at 7,104.92, while sterling was up 0.3% against the dollar at 1.3933 after the BoE’s monetary policy committee voted unanimously to keep the interest rate unchanged at a historic low of 0.1% and 7-1 to leave the stock of government bond purchases at £875bn.
Market participants were also digesting a survey out earlier which showed that growth in the UK construction sector eased in July amid shortages of staff and supplies.
The IHS Markit/CIPS construction purchasing managers’ index fell to 58.7 from June’s 24-year high of 66.3. This was below consensus expectations for a reading of 64.0 and signalled the slowest overall increase in construction output since February.
Still, it remained above the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion.
There was slower growth in all three main categories of work – residential, civil engineering and commercial – with survey respondents citing difficulties keeping pace with the recent surge in demand for construction projects, particularly due to raw material supply shortages and shrinking sub-contractor availability.
In equity markets, miners were among the worst performers, with Anglo American, Rio and BHP all weaker.
Lloyds was the biggest loser on the top-flight index after a downgrade to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs, which also downgraded NatWest to ‘buy’ from ‘conviction buy’. Virgin Money was on the back foot as GS cut its price target on the ‘neutral’ rated stock.
Frasers Group lost ground after it confirmed that plans were in place for Mike Ashley to step down as chief executive, with Michael Murray – his future son-in-law – set to take over the role in May next year, and reported a drop in full-year profit and revenue due to the impact of Covid-related closures.
Centamin fell after the gold miner posted a 39% decline in first-half pre-tax profit.
On the upside, engine maker Rolls-Royce rallied to the top of the FTSE 100 after saying it swung to an interim profit as it continued to cut costs and looked to turn cash-flow positive during the second half of the year.
Paper and packaging group Mondi was up as its first-half EBITDA came in ahead of analysts’ expectations.
WPP was a high riser after the advertising group upgraded its outlook and boosted shareholder returns as it swung back to profit in the first half of 2021.
Savills racked up healthy gains after the estate agent lifted annual guidance and reported a rise in first-half profits on the back of a booming UK property market.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,112.21 -0.16%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,423.02 0.32%
techMARK (TASX) 4,632.11 0.42%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 108.68p 3.96%
Mondi (MNDI) 2,067.00p 3.25%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,437.00p 3.12%
Informa (INF) 514.60p 3.06%
Pearson (PSON) 805.80p 2.49%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,370.00p 2.29%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,274.00p 2.12%
Entain (ENT) 1,952.50p 2.09%
WPP (WPP) 957.40p 1.74%
Croda International (CRDA) 8,860.00p 1.63%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 45.57p -3.66%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,066.00p -3.59%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,338.00p -3.08%
BHP Group (BHP) 2,302.00p -2.87%
Royal Mail (RMG) 495.40p -1.63%
BT Group (BT.A) 171.70p -1.46%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,581.00p -1.45%
Glencore (GLEN) 324.80p -1.37%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,846.00p -1.32%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,510.00p -1.24%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 386.00p 4.49%
Savills (SVS) 1,205.00p 3.88%
Greggs (GRG) 2,809.00p 3.23%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,437.00p 3.12%
Tritax Big Box Reit (BBOX) 223.20p 3.05%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 492.40p 3.01%
Mitie Group (MTO) 66.40p 2.95%
Unite Group (UTG) 1,217.50p 2.57%
Energean (ENOG) 682.00p 2.33%
Spectris (SXS) 3,797.00p 2.04%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
CMC Markets (CMCX) 433.50p -4.73%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 1,346.00p -2.89%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 196.90p -2.77%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 103.75p -2.17%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 440.40p -1.92%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 359.00p -1.91%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 103.60p -1.89%
Hammerson (HMSO) 36.80p -1.87%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 224.50p -1.75%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 398.60p -1.73%
