London close: Stocks end lower after mixed data, slide in oil prices

UK stocks closed in the red on Friday as oil prices fell and investors sifted through a batch of mixed economic data.

Oil prices extended losses amid reports the Iranian oil minister will not attend this Sunday’s summit in Qatar. Instead, Iran’s OPEC governor will be present at the meeting between global producers to discuss whether to freeze output.

Brent crude fell 2.8% to $42.61 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate dropped 3.1% to $40.22 per barrel at 1630 BST.

On Thursday, the International Energy Agency said the global oil glut was set to ease by the end of this year. It also said that any potential agreement to freeze output at the Doha meeting would have only a limited impact on supplies.

“Overall there’s a slight negative bias but this could be no more than a touch of position-squaring after this week’s rally and ahead of the weekend,” said David Morrison, senior market strategist at SpreadCo.

“Investors are well aware of Sunday’s meeting in Doha between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to discuss a freeze on crude output. Equity movements have a strong positive correlation to the oil price so we may see some profit-taking now given uncertainty ahead of the meeting.”

In economic data, China’s gross domestic product rose 6.7% year-on-year in the first three months of the year, down from 6.8% growth the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The figure was in line with analysts’ estimates but marked the slowest quarterly growth for China since the height of the financial crisis in 2009.

Other Chinese data came in more positive. Retail sales jumped 10.3% in March, beating forecasts for a 10.2% increase. Industrial production climbed 6.8% in March compared to forecasts for a 6% gain.

In the UK, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed construction output dipped 0.3% in February compared with the previous month, falling short of expectations for no change. Compared with the same month last year, output rose 0.3% versus analysts’ forecasts for a 0.7% increase.

Across the pond, US industrial production fell more than expected in March, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve. Production was down 0.6% from February, which was much steeper than the 0.1% dip forecast by economists.

Manufacturing output declined 0.3%, with the production of durables down 0.4%.

Other data from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment eased in April. The preliminary estimate for the confidence index was 89.7 in April, down from 91.0 in March and worse than the 92.0 reading expected by analysts.

The Empire State index for April rose to its highest level in more than a year to 9.56 compared to 0.62 a month earlier.

On the corporate front, SABMiller gained after Anheuser-Busch InBev NV said it reached an agreement with the South African government to create a $69m investment fund and other commitments to help it secure regulatory approval of its acquisition of the beverage maker.

Man Group advanced after Shore Capital argued that the company’s shares were significantly undervalued, following its first quarter update.

Housebuilders were expending their losses from the previous session as concerns about Brexit led Berkeley Group, Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey below the waterline. "Ahead of Brexit, people have been selling the housebuilders and the pressure will remain until we get the vote out of the way - that's the main headwind for UK housebuilders," Zeg Choudhry, managing director at LONTRAD, said.

Anglo American also slumped, after Rio Tinto’s chief executive Sam Walsh poured cold water on speculation it was keen on Anglo’s Australian coal assets on Thursday.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,345.23 -0.31%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,909.17 -0.54%
techMARK (TASX) 3,172.27 -0.29%

FTSE 100 - Risers

SABMiller (SAB) 4,281.50p 1.48%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 235.00p 1.47%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 471.00p 1.29%
Tesco (TSCO) 179.75p 1.18%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 229.45p 1.17%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,019.00p 0.89%
Provident Financial (PFG) 3,086.00p 0.85%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 520.90p 0.83%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 1,011.00p 0.60%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,232.00p 0.52%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,774.00p -4.62%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 814.50p -4.01%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,862.00p -3.83%
Intu Properties (INTU) 296.50p -3.55%
Kingfisher (KGF) 357.30p -2.96%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 942.50p -2.43%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 172.70p -2.43%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 509.50p -2.39%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,329.00p -2.35%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,850.00p -2.31%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Man Group (EMG) 162.40p 7.19%
Indivior (INDV) 167.00p 5.56%
Evraz (EVR) 133.10p 5.47%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 376.40p 4.18%
Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) 270.00p 3.45%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 446.70p 3.09%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 324.90p 2.98%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 173.00p 2.91%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 310.50p 2.64%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 549.00p 2.33%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Tullow Oil (TLW) 213.10p -5.58%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 675.50p -5.52%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 252.40p -5.47%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 475.00p -4.90%
Savills (SVS) 719.00p -4.26%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 443.90p -3.88%
G4S (GFS) 189.20p -3.62%
Bellway (BWY) 2,285.00p -3.46%
Keller Group (KLR) 809.50p -3.40%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 202.80p -3.38%