London midday: Stocks fall further as geopolitical tensions grow

London stocks had extended losses by midday on Thursday amid growing concerns about relations between Russia and Ukraine.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 7,556.12.

Geopolitical concerns intensified after Ukrainian officials accused Russia-backed rebels of shelling a village in the east Ukrainian disputed Donbas region, hitting a nursery school.

Also denting sentiment were comments from an unnamed US official on Wednesday, who said that no Russian troops were withdrawn from the border with Ukraine, disputing Moscow’s claim that it was pulling back some forces. The official said that as many as 7,000 troops have joined the 150,000 already near the border in recent days.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "With the Russians saying one thing, and NATO and the US pushing back, saying that Russian troop numbers are rising near the Ukraine border, and that no de-escalation appears to be happening, markets are increasingly becoming susceptible to headline risk.

"This means the phoney war is likely to continue until such time as Russia either de-escalates or decides to push into Ukraine."

In equity markets, Russian steelmaker Evraz was under the cosh again amid escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions and as it emerged that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has taken direct ownership of a near-29% stake the company.

Standard Chartered was in the red as its annual results missed estimates. The bank also unveiled a $750m share buyback, lifted profit targets and pledged higher investment in China. The Asia-focused bank said pre-tax profit doubled to $3.3bn in 2021, but missed the $3.8bn forecast by its own compiled average of 16 analysts.

BP and Shell gushed lower as oil prices fell, while Imperial Brands and Beazley declined as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

On the upside, consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser was a high riser after it suffered an £804m annual operating loss caused by the sale of its Chinese infant formula business, but was upbeat about growth. Excluding the sale of the IFCN business, operating profit fell 8.5%, or 2.6% at constant currency, to £2.94bn. Like-for-like net revenue rose 3.3% - better than its guidance - and Reckitt said it was targeting growth of 1-4% on that basis in 2022.

Burberry gained following solid results from French luxury goods company Kering..

Elsewhere, Bytes Technology was boosted by an initiation at ‘buy’ at Barclays.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,556.12 -0.63%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,771.93 -0.26%
techMARK (TASX) 4,381.33 -0.40%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,093.00p 4.93%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,078.00p 2.88%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,002.00p 1.73%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,203.50p 1.43%
Royal Mail (RMG) 431.90p 1.34%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,740.00p 1.22%
Fresnillo (FRES) 674.00p 1.14%
Ferguson (FERG) 11,180.00p 1.13%
SSE (SSE) 1,601.00p 1.07%
Rightmove (RMV) 634.20p 0.92%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Evraz (EVR) 310.20p -6.00%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 525.00p -4.30%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,747.50p -3.21%
Abrdn (ABDN) 236.90p -2.03%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 169.92p -2.00%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 792.00p -1.91%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 539.10p -1.68%
Aviva (AV.) 434.30p -1.68%
British Land Company (BLND) 538.00p -1.65%
BP (BP.) 397.40p -1.57%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Indivior (INDV) 271.00p 4.31%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 475.40p 3.35%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 282.20p 2.47%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 386.00p 2.39%
FirstGroup (FGP) 105.60p 2.33%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 1,499.50p 2.22%
Playtech (PTEC) 669.50p 2.14%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 94.22p 1.88%
Genus (GNS) 3,470.00p 1.76%
Diploma (DPLM) 2,648.00p 1.69%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 277.60p -5.32%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 4,320.00p -5.14%
Darktrace (DARK) 331.60p -3.49%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 205.00p -2.84%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,526.00p -2.80%
Beazley (BEZ) 489.90p -2.80%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 247.00p -2.45%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 39.71p -2.43%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 128.80p -2.42%
OSB Group (OSB) 538.50p -2.09%