London close: Stocks finish firmer after US jobless claims release

London stocks had recovered by the close on Thursday, as investors digested another week of huge US jobless figures, and continued to mull the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The FTSE 100 ended the session up 0.55% at 5,628.43, and the FTSE 250 was 0.2% firmer at 15,378.57.

Sterling was weaker against both of its major trading pairs, falling 0.83% against the dollar to $1.2414, and falling 0.11% on the euro to €1.1461.

As the London bourse closed, a three-week extension to the UK’s national lockdown was expected to be confirmed by Dominic Raab in the Downing Street daily briefing later in the day.

“The FTSE 100 has still not clawed back all its losses from yesterday, with weak commodity prices keeping the index in check, but some comfort can be taken from the fact we are not seeing the sort of nerve-shredding moves in markets posted in mid to late March,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“US jobless claims figures might test investors’ appetite for risk later as a coronavirus-inspired unemployment crisis continues to brew across the Atlantic.”

Those jobless claims, which were released just after lunch, showed millions more Americans filing for unemployment, effectively wiping out the gains in employment since the last financial crisis.

According to the Department of Labor, over the week ending on 11 April, initial jobless claims fell by 1.37 million to stand at 5.245 million, against consensus expectations for a fall of 4.5 million.

Relative to the pre-pandemic trend of 215,000 initial claims per week, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits had surged by 21.2 million, Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics pointed out.

Shpeherdson said Google search data for "file for unemployment" pointed to a further slowdown in the pace of firings to 3.5 million during the following week.

Still, while the impact of the lockdown on the consumer-facing side of the economy could be fading, "supply chains and business-to-business services presumably are being pounded now,” he added.

In equity markets, pest control company Rentokil Initial closed up 4.36% after it posted a 7.2% rise in first-quarter revenue.

It did, however, warn that the impact of the coronavirus crisis in the second quarter is set to be greater in the last two weeks of March as more countries were locked down.

Barratt Developments was 8.81% firmer as the housebuilder announced a 20% pay cut for its board and senior managers and said it was furloughing about 85% of its employees.

On the downside, Petrofac shares slid 14.67% as it said the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company had cancelled two recently awarded contracts for the Dalma Gas Development Project worth $1.65bn.

Budget airline easyJet reversed earlier gains to close down 2.45%, after it announced it would keep middle seats on its Airbus narrow jets empty once it starts flying again, in a bid to maintain social distancing onboard its aircraft.

Earlier in the day, it said it was expecting a first-half pre-tax loss of between £360m and £380m, as it agreed new loans worth £400m in order to strengthen its balance sheet against the pandemic's impact, which grounded its entire fleet.

It also said it intends to take no new aircraft deliveries in 2021, as the war of words with founder and majority shareholder Stelios Haji-Ioannou over a 107 plane order with Airbus intensified.

M&G was down 12.05% and St James’s Place lost 1.34% as those stocks went ex-dividend.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 5,628.43 0.55%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 15,378.57 0.20%
techMARK (TASX) 3,401.25 1.09%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Evraz (EVR) 252.20p 8.38%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 464.10p 7.11%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 425.40p 5.58%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,653.80p 5.34%
Fresnillo (FRES) 731.20p 5.09%
Experian (EXPN) 2,325.00p 5.06%
Informa (INF) 437.40p 4.94%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 409.60p 4.36%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,250.00p 4.07%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,603.00p 3.92%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

M&G (MNG) 129.60p -11.23%
St James's Place (STJ) 749.20p -5.24%
Next (NXT) 4,277.00p -4.04%
Pearson (PSON) 486.40p -3.84%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,722.00p -3.69%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,298.20p -3.55%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 494.10p -3.42%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,271.80p -3.34%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 349.30p -2.70%
BP (BP.) 292.00p -2.57%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hyve Group (HYVE) 24.35p 15.40%
Avast (AVST) 448.20p 11.38%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 790.20p 8.25%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 230.80p 7.85%
Senior (SNR) 60.05p 6.47%
Trainline (TRN) 346.80p 5.93%
Premier Oil (PMO) 23.50p 5.71%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 268.00p 5.59%
Vistry Group (VTY) 675.50p 5.55%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 1,900.00p 5.09%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 157.85p -14.74%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 208.50p -12.94%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 50.50p -11.48%
Capita (CPI) 32.72p -10.55%
BMO Commercial Property Trust Limited (BCPT) 66.40p -10.15%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 156.40p -9.70%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 138.40p -7.61%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 65.55p -7.22%
G4S (GFS) 87.70p -7.12%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 164.20p -6.06%