London stocks were just in the black by midday on Tuesday, helped along by some well-received earnings but with sentiment hit by reports that the lifting of lockdown measures could be delayed by up to a month.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 7,093.38.
According to reports, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce a delay to the fourth stage of his roadmap out of lockdown next week amid growing concern about the Indian variant of Covid-19.
The Times reported a Cabinet source as saying that a delay of between two weeks and a month was likely to allow more time to fully vaccinate over-50s and for the effect of the jabs to kick in. However, a spokesperson for Number 10 told The Times there was “nothing in the data” to indicate that easing could not go ahead as planned on 21 June.
More broadly, Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “The truth is markets seem to be bobbing along pretty happily until there is the next big short-term risk scare – a well-understood, or at least fairly static, macro picture for the time being keeping things on an even keel.
“Inflation remains the big unknown but for now, bond yields are steady – US Treasury yields continue to look pretty calm around 1.55% – but the path for bond yields seems only higher this year. The question is one of timing and markets seem happy to wait until they get a clearer signal.”
In equity markets, Intermediate Capital Group gained as it increased its fundraising target after an exceptional performance by its investment arm caused annual profit to more than quadruple.
Aviva rallied after activist investor Cevian Capital said it had built up a 4.95% stake in the company and called on the insurer to return £5bn to shareholders next year.
British American Tobacco rose after lifting its guidance for annual revenue growth at constant currency to more than 5% from an earlier forecast of 3-5% as it attracted more non-combustible product customers and reported a solid performance for tobacco brands.
Paragon Banking was on the front foot as the buy-to-let specialist lender posted higher interim profits and announced a £40m share buyback as the housing market recovered from the Covid pandemic.
Budget airline easyJet was boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
Dechra Pharmaceuticals advanced after it said full-year revenue was set to be ahead of consensus expectations, as it continues to benefit from strong market fundamentals and lower costs.
On the downside, oil giants Shell and BP gushed lower as oil prices fell.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,085.36 0.12%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,901.49 -0.03%
techMARK (TASX) 4,401.52 0.01%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 2,299.00p 6.63%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 13,670.00p 3.64%
Aviva (AV.) 422.40p 2.85%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 539.20p 2.59%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,092.00p 2.37%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,526.00p 2.18%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,531.00p 2.02%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,911.00p 1.87%
Entain (ENT) 1,764.00p 1.85%
Schroders (SDR) 3,636.00p 1.79%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
M&G (MNG) 244.40p -1.69%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ (RDSA) 1,369.20p -1.68%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) 1,306.80p -1.66%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 164.70p -1.35%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 199.20p -1.29%
Evraz (EVR) 637.60p -1.27%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,484.50p -1.10%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 49.13p -1.00%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 171.90p -0.84%
BP (BP.) 316.70p -0.78%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 561.00p 9.57%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 4,312.00p 3.75%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 134.40p 3.54%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,526.00p 2.18%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 368.50p 1.80%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,914.00p 1.70%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 511.50p 1.59%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 4,634.00p 1.40%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 819.00p 1.36%
Shaftesbury (SHB) 631.00p 1.28%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,075.00p -3.26%
IWG (IWG) 318.80p -3.07%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 185.00p -2.89%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 300.20p -2.60%
Rotork (ROR) 340.20p -2.30%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 165.80p -2.13%
Just Group (JUST) 100.80p -2.04%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 251.90p -2.02%
Vistry Group (VTY) 1,293.50p -1.86%
Trainline (TRN) 267.80p -1.83%
