London midday: Stocks fall, but losses pared after PBoC move

Stocks declined on Wednesday as London’s FTSE 100 retreated from a five-month high, though losses were trimmed slightly after China took measures to stimulate its economy.

The People's Bank of China trimmed the banks’ reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points to 19.5%, the first such cut since May 2012, in an effort to boost lending into the real economy.

The news pushed metal prices higher, helping London’s heavyweight mining sector into positive territory.

The FTSE 100 was still down 0.6% at 6,834 by midday, but had bounced off an intraday low of 6,815.90 set earlier on.

The index jumped on Tuesday to end at 6,871.80, its highest finish since 4 September 2014 when it settled at 6,878 and not far from its record close of 6,930 reached in December 1999.

Investors were continuing to focus on Greece with new prime minister Alexis Tsipras set to present his proposal for a debt swap to EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.

Markets have more or less welcomed the plan which backed down from calling for a total debt write-off and instead proposed swapping outstanding debt for new growth-linked bonds.

Meanwhile, a host of service-sector purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) were released across the globe, showing that growth was slowing in China but picked up in the UK and Eurozone. The US services PMI is also due out later on, along with the closely-watched ADP employment report.

Hargreaves Lansdown disappoints, Sky rises

Half-yearly results from fund manager and savings outfit Hargreaves Lansdown showed record assets under administration and growing client numbers, though shares fell sharply after revenues and profits came in shy of City expectations. Analysts Shore Capital said: “The figures show a slight improvement on a very quiet Q1 but will still require a further uptick in H2 to meet full year consensus.”

In its first set of results since slimming down its name to Sky and absorbing its German and Italian sister companies, the satellite broadcaster delivered a strong set of interim figures and cited good momentum in all its markets, causing shares to rise.

After a weak start, mining stocks advanced as metals prices turned around following the Chinese stimulus news. Precious metal producer Fresnillo and copper group Antofagasta were among the best performers.

However, oil stocks were stuck in the red as the recent rally in crude prices came to an end. Shell, Tullow and Afren all fell.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,069.27 +0.23%
FTSE 100 6,834.02 -0.55%
FTSE 250 16,518.11 -0.32%

FTSE 100 - Risers
ITV (ITV) 228.30p +2.61%
Sky (SKY) 965.50p +2.39%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 936.80p +2.38%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,054.00p +1.64%
Fresnillo (FRES) 894.00p +1.59%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,849.00p +0.92%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,466.00p +0.89%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,943.00p +0.88%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 712.00p +0.85%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,580.00p +0.81%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 991.50p -5.12%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 400.10p -4.14%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,001.00p -2.53%
St James's Place (STJ) 874.00p -2.35%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,590.00p -2.21%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,377.00p -2.14%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,542.00p -1.82%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,874.00p -1.71%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,078.00p -1.66%
Hammerson (HMSO) 693.50p -1.63%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Lonmin (LMI) 174.70p +4.05%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 465.80p +3.24%
Rank Group (RNK) 182.50p +3.11%
AO World (AO.) 314.90p +2.77%
esure Group (ESUR) 240.90p +2.51%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 67.30p +2.36%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 155.00p +2.31%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 445.10p +2.27%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 135.20p +2.19%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 224.70p +2.14%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Afren (AFR) 10.99p -7.18%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 254.40p -3.75%
Interserve (IRV) 539.50p -3.32%
Indivior (INDV) 172.60p -2.82%
Redrow (RDW) 282.40p -2.62%
Pennon Group (PNN) 842.50p -2.38%
Hunting (HTG) 467.40p -2.36%
IMI (IMI) 1,342.00p -2.12%
Premier Oil (PMO) 167.50p -2.05%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 127.40p -2.00%