London close: Stocks track losses on Wall Street

Investors took profits on Friday as Wall Street fell on day two after the US Federal Reserve's decision to hike interest rates, defying expectations for the traditional Santa Claus rally in stocks.

The FTSE 100 finished the session lower by 50.12 points or 0.82% to 6,052.42 while the second-tier index dropped 71.41 points or 0.42% to 6,070.68.

“Blink and you’ll have missed it, as the US interest hike feel good factor looks to have already evaporated. Historically, this has been the week in December when the benefits of the Santa rally can be enjoyed by equity investors,” said Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG.

“Uncertainty and indecision created in the run up to Wednesday has seen the boost equity markets would have hoped for turn out as more of a whimper than a bang, and last night’s Chinese 'Beige Book' has only sped up this turn around."

London’s equity markets saw healthy gains on Thursday as investors welcomed the Federal Reserve’s first rate hike in nearly a decade, which was accompanied by reassurance from chairwoman Janet Yellen that the tightening path would be gradual.

A jump in copper prices gave shares of miners a shot in the arm despite some downbeat news out of the People´s Republic of China.

Three-month copper futures rose by 2.8% to hit $4,674 per metric tonne on the LME.

According to a private survey from China Beige Book International, national sales revenue, volumes, output, prices, profits, hiring, borrowing, and capital expenditure at the country´s companies were all weaker in the latest quarter .

Meanwhile, after its latest meeting to decide on monetary policy the Bank of Japan kept its base money target under the stimulus programme but set up a new one to buy exchange-traded funds, extend the maturity of bonds it owns and up its purchase of key risky assets.

Markets in Japan briefly rallied on the news, but BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda said in the press conference following the announcement that the latest policy changes did not amount to additional easing and were designed to give flexibility to adjust policy.

In the corporate space, heavily-weighted miners advanced in line with metals´ prices, with Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto all in the black.

“A squeeze higher in the mining sector falling the additional falls yesterday is preventing a complete sea of red on the FTSE this morning as we see a mild bounce in copper prices,” said Brenda Kelly, head analyst at London Capital Group.

Smith&Nephew received a boost from news that US-based rival Stryker had tabled an $18bn (£11.92bn) takeover bid.

Carnival was also to be found near the top of the leaderboard after unveiling a fourth quarter profit of USD$270m (£181.12m) - up from a loss of $104m a year earlier. Revenue did slip 0.2% to USD$3.71bn.

Stock in BG slipped lower despite receiving approval from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to construct and operate a natural gas liquefaction and export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Sports Direct was a little firmer after it put out a statement hitting back at allegations made in the Guardian last week.

GlaxoSmithKline was in focus after its HIV business reached a couple of deals with Bristol-Myers Squibb to acquire its late-stage HIV research and development assets as well as its portfolio of pre-clinical and discovery stage HIV research assets.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,056.38 -0.76%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,090.57 -0.50%
techMARK (TASX) 3,163.76 -0.38%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 278.10p 5.52%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,172.00p 4.64%
Carnival (CCL) 3,648.00p 2.64%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 717.20p 2.46%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,031.00p 1.36%
Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 298.00p 1.19%
G4S (GFS) 217.50p 0.88%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,462.00p 0.83%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 427.60p 0.80%
Fresnillo (FRES) 659.00p 0.69%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

BT Group (BT.A) 458.30p -2.63%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,327.00p -2.26%
Capita (CPI) 1,183.00p -2.23%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 477.60p -2.13%
BG Group (BG.) 926.60p -2.03%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,523.00p -1.98%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 603.00p -1.95%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 1,108.00p -1.95%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,021.00p -1.83%
Sky (SKY) 1,082.00p -1.81%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 6,560.00p 6.41%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 1,043.00p 4.30%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 93.50p 4.24%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 225.00p 3.69%
Genus (GNS) 1,537.00p 3.64%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 3,196.00p 3.36%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 169.20p 3.17%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 675.00p 2.97%
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 914.50p 2.75%
BGEO Group (BGEO) 1,950.00p 2.69%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) 294.50p -5.09%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 360.80p -5.05%
Foxtons Group (FOXT) 173.10p -4.58%
Allied Minds (ALM) 384.10p -4.05%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 294.00p -3.86%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 291.50p -3.80%
Provident Financial (PFG) 3,240.00p -3.71%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 170.00p -3.46%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 421.00p -3.44%
Card Factory (CARD) 375.40p -3.27%