London close: FTSE drifts lower ahead of pivotal US Congress healthcare vote

Equities in London spent most of the session adrift with a slightly negative bias ahead of the US congressional vote on President Donald Trump's Healthcare Bill, with little in the way of domestic corporate or economic news to provide firm direction.

At the closing bell, the FTSE 100 was down 0.05% to 7,335.64, and the FTSE 250 was down 0.1% to 18,980.44. This same drift lower was seen on the Euro Stoxx 50, Dax and Cac 40. In the US, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all were all making minor gains.

"All eyes are on Washington to see whether how President Trump fares in the first real test of his legislative programme," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

"Markets, having (perhaps a touch naively) assumed that the year would see him go from triumph to triumph, are now on the cusp of switching to the opposite extreme, fear that none of the goals of the administration will be achieved," Beauchamp said.

He added that a failure this weekend and no redeeming 'tax-cut lite' plan soon could see a lot of the so-called 'Trump effect' premium wiped off equity markets. "Still for now people appear to be giving him the benefit of the doubt."

Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, opined earlier that the Healthcare Bill was considered a key hurdle before moving forward with other bullish stimulus pledges, such as tax cuts, deregulation and infrastructure spending, among others.

"The outcome could represent a turning point within the Trump rally, either reigniting it or possibly snuffing it out."

Returning to the London session, several pharmaceutical giants were popping lower due to the uncertainty surrounding the US congressional vote. Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Astrazeneca and Glaxosmithkline all eased.

Meantime, British Bankers' Association data revealed lenders approved fewer mortgages in February, putting pressure on the housing market.

Mortgage approvals fell to 42,613 last month, which was 3.4% lower than January's revised 12-month high of 44,142, 4.6% lower compared to the February last year and some way short of the 44,900 consensus forecast.

This had a knock-on effect for house builders, with Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon and Barratt Developments all subsiding.

There was some good news across the Channel, however, as the latest survey from IHS Markit showed eurozone business growth reached a near six-year high in March.

In UK corporate news, engineer Smiths Group gained after reporting flat first-half revenues of £1.6bn on an underlying basis, but growth of 18% on a reported basis thanks to the weak pound.

Land Securities nudged lower after confirming it was in talks with Deutsche Bank on pre-letting a site for the German banking giant's London headquarters.

Among the oil majors, BP and Shell were moderately lower as the price of crude traded sideways ahead of an Opec committee, which monitored the cartel's compliance with its late-2016 output pledges, meeting on Sunday in Kuwait.

"In the oil market, it is the upcoming Opec meeting on Sunday, which will drive prices next week," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets UK. The black liquid's pricing has been under chronic siege amid the global oversupply.

Elsewhere among blue-chip resources stocks, the shares of miners were mostly falling, but their losses were modest.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,335.64 -0.07%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,973.08 -0.15%
techMARK (TASX) 3,453.73 -0.35%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,601.00p 2.89%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 5,277.00p 1.99%
Informa (INF) 647.00p 1.81%
Barclays (BARC) 226.95p 1.36%
Pearson (PSON) 643.50p 1.34%
Provident Financial (PFG) 2,966.00p 1.30%
GKN (GKN) 372.00p 1.20%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,165.00p 0.99%
WPP (WPP) 1,684.00p 0.84%
Tesco (TSCO) 191.05p 0.76%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,091.00p -2.97%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,608.00p -2.49%
BT Group (BT.A) 325.55p -1.77%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 191.40p -1.75%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 331.60p -1.69%
Next (NXT) 4,130.00p -1.64%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,923.00p -1.58%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,080.00p -1.52%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,998.00p -1.38%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 542.50p -1.18%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Capita (CPI) 575.00p 2.86%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,727.00p 2.52%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 269.30p 2.40%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,049.00p 2.14%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 416.40p 2.06%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 147.50p 2.01%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 758.50p 1.68%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 313.00p 1.62%
Just Eat (JE.) 573.50p 1.59%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 420.80p 1.57%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Allied Minds (ALM) 318.70p -4.03%
Marshalls (MSLH) 354.00p -3.91%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 708.50p -3.80%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 539.50p -3.66%
Genus (GNS) 1,735.00p -3.23%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 340.40p -3.19%
Vectura Group (VEC) 157.10p -3.14%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 807.00p -2.83%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 201.00p -2.62%
Aggreko (AGK) 874.00p -2.35%