London midday: FTSE stays down as Burberry, Rio Tinto slump

London stocks were still a little weaker by midday on Tuesday as investors continued to mull political developments in the US, with Burberry and Rio Tinto in the red.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 8,166.97.

Patrick Munnelly at TickMill Group said: "Asian stocks declined, counterbalancing the gains in Wall Street, amid speculation about Donald Trump's potential running mate JD Vance and the resulting new trade and geopolitical concerns. The MSCI AC Asia Pacific index experienced its third consecutive day of losses, dropping by 0.2%. Hong Kong witnessed the largest decline in stocks, while certain Chinese companies continued to fall due to investor anticipation of Trump's tariffs. On the other hand, Japan's stocks rose as exporters benefited from the weakening Yen.

"Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chair, comments were seen as leaning towards a more cautious approach, leading to expectations of an interest rate cut in September. The possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House has influenced trading and is on the minds of investors. Powell's remarks, possibly his last before the Fed's policy meeting, indicated that recent inflation data may lead to the inflation rate reaching the Fed's target of 2%. This has caused a shift in market expectations, with traders now anticipating a significant easing of rates."

In UK equity markets, Rio Tinto fell as the mining giant’s second-quarter iron ore shipments were worse than expected due to a train derailment during the period.

Burberry was under the cosh again, after Cartier owner Richemont highlighted weak demand in China and Germany’s Hugo Boss cut its annual sales guidance.

Experian fell even as it backed its full-year expectations and said revenue grew 7% in the first quarter.

United Utilities and Severn Trent took a hit as Ofwat said it was expanding its investigation into how companies manage their wastewater treatment works and networks to include them both.

Trustpilot slumped after Vitruvian Partners sold 12.5m shares in the company in placing at 220p each. The placing shares represent around 3% of Trustpilot’s issued share capital.

Auction Technology fell after an initiation at ‘sector perform’ by RBC Capital Markets.

Vanquis Banking tumbled as it warned it does not expect to meet its FY24 guidance of low single digit return on tangible equity due to additional write-downs.

On the upside, B&M European Value Retail gained as it reported a 2.4% increase in group revenues for the first quarter, driven by volume growth and its store opening program.

Airtel Africa was boosted by an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan Cazenove.

Online grocer and technology company Ocado surged as it reported narrower interim losses and lifted full-year guidance as revenue grew across all its divisions.

It lifted the full-year EBITDA margin at its technology solutions division to mid-teens from previous guidance of more than 10% and also forecast underlying cash flow to improve by £150m from £100m.

Losses before tax came in at £154m from a loss of £289.5m for the 26 weeks to June 2. Core earnings more than trebled to £71.2m, while sales were up 12.6% to £1.54bn.

Precision measurement tools group Spectris rose after announcing the acquisition of US-based Micromeritics Instrument Corporation for $630m to bolster its offering in particle characterisation for advanced materials analysis.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,166.97 -0.20%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,193.13 0.02%
techMARK (TASX) 4,805.25 -0.27%

FTSE 100 - Risers

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 470.80p 5.42%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 119.90p 3.36%
Kingfisher (KGF) 273.10p 1.90%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 305.60p 1.90%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 265.80p 1.76%
Centrica (CNA) 138.60p 1.61%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 455.20p 1.27%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 115.75p 0.96%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,876.00p 0.87%
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 325.60p 0.87%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 717.80p -3.52%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,030.00p -3.12%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,527.00p -2.73%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,009.00p -2.51%
Glencore (GLEN) 462.20p -1.93%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,105.00p -1.86%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 831.50p -1.42%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,106.00p -1.33%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 172.80p -1.31%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,335.50p -1.23%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 389.40p 14.39%
Ascential (ASCL) 366.20p 3.74%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 507.00p 2.97%
Spectris (SXS) 3,108.00p 2.30%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 204.50p 1.74%
Currys (CURY) 78.65p 1.68%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 508.00p 1.60%
XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 328.00p 1.55%
Keller Group (KLR) 1,432.00p 1.42%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 98.05p 1.24%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Trustpilot Group (TRST) 215.00p -8.32%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 63.20p -3.36%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 468.50p -3.00%
Jlen Environmental Assets Group Limited NPV (JLEN) 90.40p -2.69%
Future (FUTR) 1,078.00p -2.27%
Pennon Group (PNN) 635.50p -2.23%
GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 80.90p -1.58%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 172.60p -1.48%
Genus (GNS) 1,862.00p -1.48%
Pacific Horizon Inv Trust (PHI) 633.00p -1.40%