London midday: Stocks pare losses as calm returns to markets

London stocks had pared earlier losses to trade flat by midday on Tuesday, having sold off heavily in the previous session amid concerns about the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

The FTSE 100 was steady at 7,549.13.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "There was a sense some calm had been restored to markets after a bruising few sessions.

"While the immediate fallout from the SVB collapse may have been contained for now, the edginess around the banking sector isn’t helped by the latest revelations from Credit Suisse as it identified material weaknesses in reporting controls.

"It may have been a ‘technical’ issue according to the Swiss bank but in the current environment and given the company’s recent sketchy track record, investors were hardly in a forgiving mood.

"Asian markets played catch up with the market chaos overnight, with the weakness hitting HSBC, but Wall Street saw fairly stable trading last night. Whether the relative calm will survive the latest print of US inflation later is an open question.

"Given expectations have been ratcheted back for interest rate increases amid concern the current rate hiking cycle is starting to break things in the financial system, the markets, the Federal Reserve and politicians will be desperate to see an easing of inflationary pressures.

"If inflation comes in ahead of expectations, volatility is likely to pick up once again as investors look ahead to the Fed’s meeting on 22 March."

The US consumer price index for February is due at 1230 GMT.

On home shores, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the unemployment rate was stable on the quarter in the three months to January, at 3.7%. Economists were expecting a slight uptick to 3.8%.

Meanwhile, wage growth slowed for the first time in more than a year. Average earnings growth excluding bonuses fell to 6.5% from a year earlier, from 6.7% in the previous three-month period.

The figures also revealed that the economic inactivity rate declined by 0.2 percentage points on the quarter, to 21.3%. The ONS said the drop was driven by people aged 16 to 24 years.

The number of working days lost to strike action was 220,000 in January, down from 822,000 in December 2022.

In December 2022 to February 2023, the number of job vacancies fell by 51,000 on the quarter to 1.22m. This was the eighth consecutive decline and the ONS said it reflects "uncertainty across industries", with survey respondents citing economic pressures as a factor in holding back recruitment.

Russ Mould said the jobs figures "suggested the labour market is becoming less tight as wage growth slows - helping to provide cover for the Bank of England to pause for breath on rates when it meets next week".

In equity markets, interdealer broker TP ICAP tumbled even as it lifted its dividend and reported a jump in full-year profit, boosted by increased market volatility.

Merchant bank Close Brothers also suffered heavy losses after saying it had been a "challenging" first half, and posting a drop in profits as it was hit by provisions related to the Novitas loan book.

Banks Standard Chartered and HSBC were still in the red, although losses were much less pronounced than on Monday.

On the upside, engine maker Rolls-Royce rallied as Citi lifted its price target on the shares and pointed to "a clear route to much better cash flow".

Molten Ventures jumped to the top of the FTSE 250 after saying it expects no impact from the collapse of SVB, after the lender’s UK arm was rescued by HSBC.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,549.13 0.01%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,839.97 0.08%
techMARK (TASX) 4,508.32 0.25%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 148.98p 2.74%
Unite Group (UTG) 937.00p 2.52%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 631.60p 2.23%
SEGRO (SGRO) 791.20p 2.09%
Halma (HLMA) 2,085.00p 1.66%
British Land Company (BLND) 411.30p 1.66%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,060.00p 1.65%
SSE (SSE) 1,751.50p 1.62%
BAE Systems (BA.) 922.20p 1.56%
Centrica (CNA) 105.55p 1.54%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Standard Chartered (STAN) 675.80p -1.89%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,178.00p -1.59%
Fresnillo (FRES) 736.20p -1.50%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 112.20p -1.49%
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 583.40p -1.45%
Glencore (GLEN) 452.20p -1.42%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,009.00p -1.37%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 164.20p -1.29%
Pearson (PSON) 831.80p -1.21%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 561.70p -1.13%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Molten Ventures (GROW) 320.20p 5.47%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 164.20p 4.39%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 253.90p 3.55%
Darktrace (DARK) 282.10p 3.52%
Great Portland Estates (GPE) 534.50p 3.38%
National Express Group (NEX) 131.00p 3.23%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 371.20p 2.94%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,765.00p 2.86%
UK Commercial Property Reit Limited (UKCM) 53.10p 2.71%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 338.50p 2.58%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

TP Icap Group (TCAP) 160.60p -9.98%
Man Group (EMG) 255.20p -5.06%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 974.50p -4.08%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 134.90p -3.64%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 126.40p -2.77%
Synthomer (SYNT) 135.30p -2.73%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 268.50p -2.72%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 31.16p -2.62%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 146.00p -2.50%
Keller Group (KLR) 683.00p -2.43%