London stocks closed well below the line on Monday, with travel shares under the cosh as growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine rattled markets.
The FTSE 100 ended the session down 1.69% at 7,531.59, and the FTSE 250 was off 1.95% at 21,617.89.
Sterling was in a mixed state, last trading 0.33% weaker against the dollar at $1.3519, while it gained 0.13% on the euro to change hands at €1.1962.
“As yet the situation in eastern Europe remains tense but peaceful, but markets are continuing to fret that tensions may spill over into a more serious crisis,” said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.
“As a result the atmosphere remains in risk-off territory, with heavy losses for both European and US markets.”
That, Beauchamp said, built on a “decidedly bearish” end to last week, adding that while efforts to resolve the situation were ongoing, there was “no actual solution” in sight.
“The Ukraine news comes at a time when the market is ill-disposed to cope with bad news of any kind, and is in many ways much harder to quantify in terms of its economic impact, and thus promises to darken the outlook for stocks in a way that is more reminiscent of the first weeks of the Covid crisis rather than any other crisis since then.”
On the economic front, the latest data from retail analyst Springboard showed footfall at UK shops rose last week, as workers continued to return to offices.
Footfall increased 2.2% on the previous week, with footfall on high streets up 2.6%, while shopping centres and retail parks saw rises of 2.4% and 1.1%, respectively.
Springboard said footfall rose in all types of town centre, with the largest increase of 7.1% seen in regional cities outside of London, versus a 3.3% jump in Central London.
Its ‘Central London Back to the Office’ benchmark was in line with that of Central London as a whole, up 3% from the week before.
“For the fifth consecutive week footfall in UK retail destinations rose last week from the week before, albeit that the degree of uplift appears to be tapering off,” said Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard.
“Footfall rose across all three destination types, however, the increases in all three were lower than the week before which followed payday, and which is often a driver of retail spending.
“Footfall rose across all types of town centre last week, with an acceleration in the increase in footfall in city centres outside of London accompanied by a lesser uplift in footfall occurred in Central London; in part this is likely to be driven by employees outside of the capital heading back into their offices to a greater degree than in previous weeks.”
In equities, Russian steelmaker Evraz plunged 29.05% as the world watched for developments in Ukraine, with many Western governments warning an attack from Russia was now practically imminent.
Travel-related shares were in the red, with BA and Iberia owner IAG down 5.63%, engine maker Rolls-Royce off 2.65%, budget airlines Wizz Air and easyJet descending 6.34% and 1.67%, cruise operator Carnival 4.83% lower, and travel organiser TUI 3.67% weaker.
Elsewhere, banks were on the back foot, with Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest falling 5.11%, 4.17% and 4.11%, respectively.
Chemical company Synthomer lost 7.46% after saying it expected full-year core earnings to double, in line with expectations, but cautioned that sales of latex gloves during the Covid pandemic had peaked.
JD Sports Fashion retreated 3.53% after the Competition and Markets Authority fined it and Footasylum £4.7m for breaching the rules around a merger blocked by the watchdog.
On the upside, precious metals miner Fresnillo jumped 6.97%, while Centamin added 1.91% and Endeavour Mining rose 1.43% as gold prices spiked higher on safe-haven demand.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,531.59 -1.69%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,617.89 -1.95%
techMARK (TASX) 4,342.56 -2.12%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 665.80p 6.97%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,131.50p 1.98%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,387.00p 1.68%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,409.00p 1.20%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,617.50p 1.06%
Glencore (GLEN) 422.10p 1.04%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,300.50p 0.54%
Avast (AVST) 625.80p 0.38%
Croda International (CRDA) 7,324.00p 0.36%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 638.20p 0.19%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Evraz (EVR) 315.50p -29.05%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 164.80p -5.63%
Barclays (BARC) 195.56p -5.11%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,678.00p -4.32%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 152.30p -4.31%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 51.71p -4.17%
NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 243.20p -4.11%
BP (BP.) 400.65p -3.97%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,405.00p -3.88%
Abrdn (ABDN) 237.30p -3.54%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 199.60p 6.51%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 93.00p 1.91%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 103.00p 1.88%
BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 3,830.00p 1.59%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,775.00p 1.43%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 15.20p 1.33%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 1,522.50p 1.30%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 133.20p 0.76%
Capricorn Energy (CNE) 210.00p 0.67%
888 Holdings (888) 271.60p 0.37%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited C Shs NPV (SONC) 112.50p -100.00%
Darktrace (DARK) 362.80p -10.68%
Synthomer (SYNT) 313.60p -7.46%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 4,326.00p -6.34%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 205.00p -5.96%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 940.00p -5.10%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 255.20p -5.06%
OSB Group (OSB) 546.50p -5.04%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 148.20p -5.00%
Carnival (CCL) 1,506.60p -4.83%
