London midday: Stocks fall as China data misses forecasts

London stocks slid on Monday after worse-than-expected Chinese data added to worries about the health of the world’s second largest economy.

China’s industrial output rose 6% year-on-year in April, compared with 6.8% growth a month earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday. Analysts had predicted a 6.6% increase.

Retails sales in China grew 10.1% in April compared to a year ago, following a 10.5% year-on-year rise in March, missing forecasts for a 10.6% gain.

Fixed-asset investment in urban areas climbed 10.5% year-over-year in the January-to-April period, compared with an annual increase of 10.7% for the first three months of 2016. It compared to estimates for a 11.0% rise.

“The drop in retail sales is particularly worrying given that they had been on an upward track since May last year and in the last couple of months the trend has reversed sharply from over 11% at the end of the last quarter of 2015,” said Michael Hewson, senior market analyst at CMC Markets.

“While there was a bit of a pickup in March this now looks like it was simply a Chinese New Year inspired spike.”

On Monday’s economic calendar there are no notable releases and German markets are closed for trading due to a holiday.

Meanwhile, oil prices jumped after Goldman Sachs said the market had finished almost two years of oversupply and moved to a deficit following global production disruptions.

Brent crude rose 1.94% to $48.78 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate increased 1.9% to $47.12 per barrel at 1118 BST.

On the company front, mining stocks rallied as metal prices advanced. Anglo American, Antofagasta and Fresnillo topped the FTSE 100 at the midday mark.

Crest Nicholson also gained after saying it was on track to meet its full year revenue target as it reported an increase in half year total forward sales and new house completions.

Lonmin surged after the South African platinum producer narrowed its half year pre-tax losses as revenues rose and the company cut costs.

Going the other way, British Land slumped after reporting a full year rise in net asset value that missed the consensus forecasts.

Dealer broker ICAP declined after reporting a drop in revenue and profit in the year to 31 March, blaming challenging markets.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,107.17 -0.51%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,653.62 0.02%
techMARK (TASX) 3,034.31 -0.70%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 607.20p 5.02%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,148.00p 2.96%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 423.90p 2.94%
Tesco (TSCO) 165.55p 2.41%
Glencore (GLEN) 132.90p 1.33%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,975.00p 1.16%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 183.30p 0.77%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 828.50p 0.69%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,205.00p 0.65%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 472.20p 0.64%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

BT Group (BT.A) 430.75p -2.14%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 819.50p -1.92%
Old Mutual (OML) 166.00p -1.83%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,065.00p -1.67%
British Land Company (BLND) 708.00p -1.67%
Provident Financial (PFG) 2,792.00p -1.59%
Intu Properties (INTU) 288.20p -1.54%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 749.00p -1.51%
Centrica (CNA) 199.40p -1.48%
Barclays (BARC) 162.95p -1.45%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 156.60p 5.60%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 552.00p 5.14%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 259.70p 4.51%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 293.60p 4.48%
Victrex plc (VCT) 1,493.00p 4.41%
Evraz (EVR) 119.70p 3.91%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 284.90p 3.52%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 193.30p 3.42%
Lookers (LOOK) 135.10p 3.13%
IP Group (IPO) 156.30p 2.76%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Drax Group (DRX) 291.30p -7.17%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 254.60p -2.45%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 175.50p -2.06%
Investec (INVP) 473.00p -1.83%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 182.20p -1.62%
William Hill (WMH) 300.70p -1.54%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 220.60p -1.52%
Indivior (INDV) 160.00p -1.48%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 266.10p -1.33%
DFS Furniture (DFS) 297.00p -1.16%