London stocks were still little changed by midday on Monday as investors took a fire sale by hedge fund Archegos Capital in their stride.
The FTSE 100 was steady at 6,738.82.
Japanese bank Nomura and Credit Suisse were both sharply lower as they warned of big losses after Archegos Capital defaulted on margin calls. However, sentiment more broadly was holding up fairly well.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “Despite the stress this is causing among banking stocks, there is no sign of contagion in broader markets, with the DAX hitting a fresh all-time high this morning.”
Wilson said investors will be watching this week for more details about US President Joe Biden’s $3tn investment plan on Wednesday.
In equity markets, Renishaw was sitting pretty at the top of the FTSE 100 after Bloomberg reported late on Friday that the engineer, which has put itself up for sale, is attracting initial interest from Swedish rival Hexagon AB and US medical equipment maker Danaher.
Financial services platform AJ Bell rose after it lifted full-year revenue guidance as it continued to see rising customer numbers in the first half. The company said it expected revenue for the 12 months to September 30 to be at least £6m higher than its own compiled forecasts of £136m.
In broker note action, BT Group rallied after an upgrade to ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley, while housebuilder Barratt Developments was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,738.82 -0.03%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,502.93 0.08%
techMARK (TASX) 4,231.10 0.13%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Renishaw (RSW) 6,340.00p 5.67%
BT Group (BT.A) 151.05p 2.03%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,472.00p 1.57%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,328.00p 1.26%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 182.30p 1.22%
Ferguson (FERG) 8,886.00p 1.14%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 917.60p 1.12%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 492.50p 1.09%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,538.00p 0.95%
Evraz (EVR) 562.00p 0.93%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,517.00p -2.76%
Entain (ENT) 1,518.00p -2.35%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 16,105.00p -2.28%
Rightmove (RMV) 583.60p -1.92%
Avast (AVST) 457.40p -1.85%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 132.92p -1.82%
Halma (HLMA) 2,343.00p -1.80%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 192.90p -1.76%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,969.00p -1.72%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 6,996.00p -1.58%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Cineworld Group (CINE) 106.50p 3.45%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 164.00p 3.14%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 682.00p 3.02%
Elementis (ELM) 126.40p 2.93%
Chemring Group (CHG) 269.50p 2.67%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 539.20p 2.63%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 412.00p 2.54%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 478.00p 2.47%
Hammerson (HMSO) 33.75p 2.46%
Savills (SVS) 1,152.00p 2.22%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 278.70p -3.80%
Trainline (TRN) 453.60p -3.37%
Energean (ENOG) 854.60p -2.75%
ITV (ITV) 124.75p -2.20%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 199.30p -2.11%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 317.50p -2.01%
Capita (CPI) 42.40p -1.90%
Drax Group (DRX) 442.60p -1.86%
Provident Financial (PFG) 211.00p -1.86%
FirstGroup (FGP) 90.65p -1.73%
