London stocks were a little weaker by midday on Wednesday as investors sifted through a raft of earnings news and eyed the latest policy announcement from the US Federal Reserve.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 7,254.19.
IG market analyst Joshua Mahony said: “Today heralds the beginning of a three-day period which will see jobs and monetary policy dominate sentiment, with the Bank of England and Federal Reserve both expected to begin removing their accommodative position thanks to surging inflation.
“The Fed are widely expected to initiate their tapering phase today, as Powell leads the push to gradually withdraw the historic $120 billion per month asset purchase programme. With the FOMC likely to enact a monthly reduction of $15 billion, we are expecting to see the programme draw to a close in June 2022.
“There are some who will question whether the Fed will hold off given the weaker-than-expected GDP and payrolls data seen over the past month. Nonetheless, while growth has slowed after a bumper Q2 reading of 6.7%, payrolls weakness can be largely overlooked given the record number of vacancies seen in recent months. While many will be concerned that the actions of the Fed will have a detrimental impact upon the economy, this is more a case of trimming stimulus rather than tightening policy as is expected from the Bank of England. That willingness to recognise the continued support from the Fed is reflected in US equities this week, with the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq pushing into record highs yesterday.”
On home shores, a survey out earlier showed that a buoyant services sector helped bolster the UK economy last month, but inflationary pressures continued to mount.
Meanwhile, the latest survey from Nationwide showed that house prices edged higher in October, despite the stamp duty holiday coming to an end.
In equity markets, Darktrace slumped after private equity firm Vitruvian Partners sold 11m shares in the cybersecurity group in a placing. The shares were sold at 580p each, raising gross proceeds of around £63.8m.
Next fell as the retailer reported better-than-expected full-price sales in the last five weeks, but warned that momentum would slow in the final quarter due to diminishing pent-up demand from Covid lockdowns and supply-chain constraints.
Trainline slid even as the online ticket seller said it had it returned to profitability in the first half as passengers returned to rail and shifted to digital ticketing.
Pets at Home lost ground as it upgraded its full-year profit expectations but announced the departure of chief executive Peter Pritchard.
On the upside, miners gained as copper and iron ore prices rose, with Antofagasta, Anglo American, Glencore and BHP all higher. Anglo was also boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ at Liberum.
British Airways and Iberia owner IAG flew higher after Lufthansa said it had returned to profit for the first time since the pandemic.
Royal Mail was boosted by an upgrade to ‘neutral’ from ‘sell’ at UBS.
Micro Focus surged as it agreed the sale of its archiving and risk management portfolio to Smarsh Inc for $375m in cash.
Cairn Energy gushed higher as the oil and gas producer’s long-running dispute with the Indian government appeared to be drawing to a close.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,254.19 -0.28%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,097.46 -0.18%
techMARK (TASX) 4,566.47 -0.25%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,410.00p 3.68%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 169.06p 3.49%
Royal Mail (RMG) 445.40p 2.94%
Pearson (PSON) 605.20p 2.58%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,783.00p 2.32%
Glencore (GLEN) 361.15p 1.95%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 3,674.00p 1.77%
Fresnillo (FRES) 864.40p 1.36%
Evraz (EVR) 619.20p 1.31%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,891.40p 1.30%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Darktrace (DARK) 599.00p -5.30%
Next (NXT) 7,954.00p -4.31%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,539.00p -2.53%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 608.20p -2.28%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 1,082.00p -2.04%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 106.34p -1.95%
Informa (INF) 524.40p -1.94%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 287.90p -1.84%
BP (BP.) 338.65p -1.83%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,973.00p -1.73%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 391.80p 7.82%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 110.40p 4.15%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 1,754.50p 3.30%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 194.30p 2.59%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 203.80p 2.41%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 2,915.00p 2.28%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 218.90p 2.00%
Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 220.00p 1.85%
HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,625.00p 1.74%
Elementis (ELM) 141.60p 1.72%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Trainline (TRN) 293.60p -8.93%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 245.20p -3.92%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 338.60p -2.98%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 185.40p -2.88%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 131.80p -2.51%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 308.90p -2.46%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 794.00p -2.41%
Cranswick (CWK) 3,460.00p -2.26%
Future (FUTR) 3,402.00p -2.13%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 488.80p -2.12%
