London midday: Stocks in the red but miners gain ground

Stocks in London fell on Friday, with investors likely booking profits on the strong gains from the previous session's Federal Reserve-inspired rally.

At midday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.5% 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.

On Friday, however, the focus shifted to Asian markets, after China’s Beige Book showed conditions in the world’s second-largest economy worsened in the fourth quarter.

According to a private survey by China Beige Book International, national sales revenue, volumes, output, prices, profits, hiring, borrowing, and capital expenditure were all weaker than the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan kept its base money target under the stimulus programme but sdet up a new one to buy exchange-traded funds, extend the maturity of bonds its own and up its purchase of key risky assets.

Markets in Japan briefly rallied on the news, but BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda said 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.

“Initially, this appeared to be a surprising addition to the current stimulus measures and the yen slid against the dollar, while the Nikkei rallied in response to the news, but these moves were short-lived,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

“In reality, the measures were negligible, especially as the ETF purchases came alongside a commitment to sell stock it has purchased since 2002, also at a rate of 300 billion yen per year, creating zero net purchases.”

In corporate news, BG nudged higher after 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.

On the upside, 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.

Market Movers

techMARK 3,160.05 -0.50%

FTSE 100 6,078.03 -0.40%

FTSE 250 17,158.69 -0.11%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 269.60p +2.30%

RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 433.60p +2.22%

Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 297.25p +0.93%

Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,472.00p +0.82%

BHP Billiton (BLT) 705.60p +0.80%

Barclays (BARC) 220.35p +0.73%

Old Mutual (OML) 173.00p +0.70%

Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,457.50p +0.52%

BAE Systems (BA.) 498.70p +0.48%

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 295.90p +0.41%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,018.00p -2.12%

Barratt Developments (BDEV) 605.50p -1.54%

easyJet (EZJ) 1,689.00p -1.52%

Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 284.70p -1.49%

Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,111.00p -1.42%

Next (NXT) 7,300.00p -1.42%

Inmarsat (ISAT) 1,114.00p -1.42%

BT Group (BT.A) 464.05p -1.41%

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 451.60p -1.40%

Compass Group (CPG) 1,137.00p -1.39%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Bodycote (BOY) 562.50p +4.26%

Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 3,198.00p +3.43%

Restaurant Group (RTN) 677.00p +3.28%

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 477.70p +3.17%

Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 70.75p +2.39%

IP Group (IPO) 219.30p +2.38%

BGEO Group (BGEO) 1,941.00p +2.21%

Centamin (DI) (CEY) 61.70p +2.07%

Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 365.90p +2.04%

Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 383.10p +2.00%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Foxtons Group (FOXT) 172.40p -4.96%

OneSavings Bank (OSB) 365.90p -3.71%

Allied Minds (ALM) 387.50p -3.20%

Drax Group (DRX) 219.20p -2.79%

Acacia Mining (ACA) 155.40p -2.75%

TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 213.50p -2.73%

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 951.00p -2.56%

Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 298.00p -2.55%

Evraz (EVR) 60.00p -2.52%

Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 425.20p -2.48%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers

Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 680.00p +1.57%

Consort Medical (CSRT) 1,025.00p +1.28%

Dialight (DIA) 442.75p +0.68%

IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 204.21 +0.36%

SDL (SDL) 420.50p +0.30%

NCC Group (NCC) 288.50p +0.26%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers

Sarossa (SARS) 1.50p -9.09%

Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 6.60p -5.04%

KCOM Group (KCOM) 117.50p -2.89%

Torotrak (TRK) 4.40p -2.22%

Ricardo (RCDO) 855.00p -1.16%

Sepura (SEPU) 182.25p -0.68%

Skyepharma (SKP) 348.00p -0.57%

Spirent Communications (SPT) 67.25p -0.37%