London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 7,919.34 in afternoon trade on Monday.
Miners Anglo American, Glencore, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta all slumped after China set a modest economic growth target of around 5% for this year.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “It’s clear that a return to stability is Beijing’s main aim, rather than big expansionary plans, after the painful past few years. The 5% target for growth announced at the National People’s Congress was not as high as had been hoped, particularly given the recent resurgence in factory activity and business confidence, indicating there is reticence towards signing off any blockbuster stimulus plans any time soon.
“This will nudge down hopes that China could provide the extra steam to offset declines in other major economies, prompted by efforts to rein in rampant inflation. The exception appears to be for defence which will see budgets increased by more than 7%, but rather than being encouraging this development will be tinged with worries about heightened geopolitical risk.”
Retailer Next gained after Jefferies hiked its price target on the shares to 7,500p from 5,700p.
Tesco was also on the rise after Jefferies upgraded the shares to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and lifted the price target to 310p from 260p.
Jefferies said: “We are approaching the anniversary of the downtrade inflection in UK grocery. Mix pressures in the market should start reducing a little, and Tesco’s focus on assortment optimisation should help optimise in-store mix dynamics.
“Reducing margin pressures in the second half 2022/23 should provide investors with improving confidence on free cash delivery.”
FTSE 100 – Risers
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 13,915.00p 4.15%
BT Group (BT.A) 149.15p 2.97%
Rightmove (RMV) 573.60p 2.83%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 679.80p 2.78%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 124.70p 2.55%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 153.28p 2.43%
Next (NXT) 7,004.00p 1.54%
British Land Company (BLND) 450.80p 1.51%
Abrdn (ABDN) 235.40p 1.42%
Tesco (TSCO) 259.90p 1.40%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 522.60p -5.02%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,914.50p -4.21%
Beazley (BEZ) 618.50p -3.81%
Glencore (GLEN) 503.30p -3.77%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,970.00p -2.83%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,074.50p -2.05%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,632.00p -1.92%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,393.50p -1.90%
Fresnillo (FRES) 762.40p -1.68%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 509.40p -1.55%
