London midday: UK stocks on track for lowest close in over a year

UK stocks dropped sharply on Friday as fears about the global economy and the Ebola crisis continued to weigh heavily on market sentiment.

After closing at its lowest level of the year on Thursday, the FTSE 100 was down a further 1.4% at 6,345 by Friday lunchtime as travel, leisure and mining stocks took a hit. The index has not settled below this mark since October 2013.

"Worries about global growth caused equity markets to slide this week, with the oil price falling to a four-year low on demand fears," said Garry White from Charles Stanley. "Concerns about the spread of the Ebola virus outside West Africa also prompted concerns," he said.

In economic news, the Office for National Statistics revealed that the seasonally-adjusted UK trade deficit narrowed to £1.9bn in August, compared to a £3.1bn deficit in July. While the result was better than analysts' forecasts of a deficit of £3.0bn, Capital Economics highlighted that the value of goods and services exports fell by 1.7% while imports dropped 4.2%.

Travel stocks continues to fall, Tullow slumps

Travel and leisure peers TUI Travel, Carnival, IAG, Intercontinental Hotels and Easyjet were all registering steep losses in London as concerns about the Ebola crisis continued to rise. Burberry was also under pressure analysts expressed concerns about how a potential drop in tourism will affect sales of luxury goods.

Oil and gas group Tullow Oil was firmly in the red after the company said that the Sputnik-1 well on its part-owned Arouwe block offshore Gabon has found "non-commercial" hydrocarbons.

Mining stocks were pulling back after a strong performance the previous session as metal prices gave up recent gains. Anglo American, Antofagasta and BHP Billiton were among the worst performers. Vedanta Resources were also under the weather after giving a mixed production update for the second quarter.

Technology group CSR was a heavy faller after Microchip, the US firm which is currently trying to take over the UK group, disappointed analysts with its second-quarter results.

British American Tobacco was trading lower after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the cigarette maker to 'sell'.

Utility services group Telecom Plus among the few risers after saying it is happy with market expectations for the full year after strong organic growth in the first half. Increases in customer and service numbers accelerated further during the second quarter.

Market Movers
techMARK 2,665.74 -1.21%
FTSE 100 6,344.99 -1.35%
FTSE 250 14,571.17 -1.62%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,263.00p +0.32%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,610.00p +0.25%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
TUI Travel (TT.) 335.00p -6.14%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 541.50p -5.17%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 887.00p -3.85%
Carnival (CCL) 2,188.00p -3.53%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 664.50p -3.13%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,229.00p -3.09%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,316.00p -2.95%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,616.50p -2.94%
Fresnillo (FRES) 747.50p -2.92%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 912.00p -2.88%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,337.00p +6.45%
esure Group (ESUR) 222.50p +1.18%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 320.90p +1.07%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 895.00p +1.02%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,877.00p +0.91%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,268.00p +0.88%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 326.50p +0.80%
Pace (PIC) 294.90p +0.61%
Rank Group (RNK) 161.10p +0.50%
F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd. (FCPT) 125.80p +0.48%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
CSR (CSR) 643.00p -10.26%
Afren (AFR) 95.40p -9.06%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 194.10p -8.14%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 354.20p -7.20%
Fenner (FENR) 277.20p -7.20%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 859.50p -6.93%
Soco International (SIA) 336.30p -5.53%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 102.20p -5.37%
NMC Health (NMC) 470.00p -5.24%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 164.30p -5.19%