FTSE 100 movers: Oil majors, banks drag top-flight index lower

by | Dec 13, 2021

Big oil and lenders’ shares were the main drag on London’s top-flight index at the start of the week as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries predicted that the impact of the Omicron variant on the global economy would be “mild”.
“The impact of the new Omicron variant is expected to be mild and short-lived, as the world becomes better equipped to manage COVID-19 and its related challenges,” OPEC said in its Monthly Oil Market Report for December.

A milder impact would in theory justify the cartel going ahead with its planned production policy, or so the logic apparently went, weighing on crude oil futures and in turn on shares of BP and Royal Dutch Shell.

Nevertheless central banks’ responses, high debt levels around the world and rising inflationary pressures required “close monitoring”, OPEC added.

Investors too were watching the first of those given the interest rate decisions by the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England scheduled for later in the week.

Indeed, the Fed was expected to accelerate the process of tapering its bond purchases and in the background economists were bringing their forecasts for interest rate hikes a little bit forward.

Hence the drag on longer-term sovereign bond yields on both side of the Pond, which in turn weighed on the likes of Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC.

But it was travel-related names that were at the bottom of the pile after the government raised its Covid-19 alert level from three to four at the weekend.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,239.20 -0.72%

FTSE 100 – Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 879.20p 2.09%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,248.00p 1.58%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,392.00p 1.53%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 6,260.00p 0.97%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 4,002.00p 0.96%
Kingfisher (KGF) 336.00p 0.93%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,295.00p 0.92%
Sage Group (SGE) 831.40p 0.85%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,328.00p 0.84%
Halma (HLMA) 3,161.00p 0.83%

FTSE 100 – Fallers

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 130.02p -5.36%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 117.16p -4.59%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 44.42p -4.14%
Entain (ENT) 1,579.00p -3.31%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,808.00p -3.11%
British Land Company (BLND) 504.80p -2.81%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,517.00p -2.69%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 144.95p -2.69%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ (RDSA) 1,616.00p -2.64%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 10,715.00p -2.59%

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