London open: Stocks fall amid rising bond yields, Covid worries

London stocks fell in early trade on Friday, taking their cue from weak sessions in the US and Asia, amid concerns about rising bond yields and new Covid restrictions in France.

At 0950 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.9% at 6,717.74.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "A stumble from the Dow Jones last night, a shift in policy from the Bank of Japan, frosty words between the US and China, and a third covid-19 wave in France all undermined sentiment this Friday.

"Though the Federal Reserve and Bank of England made it clear they wouldn’t be turning the stimulus taps off any time soon, that hasn’t stopped the Bank of Japan’s decision to move to a more ‘sustainable’ monetary policy from upsetting the apple cart.

"Accusations of ‘grandstanding’, meanwhile, were the main take away from the first high-level talks between China and the Joe Biden government.

"More specifically Euro-centric, Paris and parts of northern France are entering a four-week lockdown to combat a third wave of the coronavirus that is currently sweeping through the nation. It should be clear, then, why the European markets weren’t exactly feeling it after the bell."

In equity markets, pub chain JD Wetherspoon was in the red after it swung to a heavy half-year loss as it felt the impact of Covid restrictions. The company reported a loss before tax and exceptionals of £46.2m compared with a profit of £57.9m.

NatWest ticked lower after saying it is spending £1.1bn to buy almost 5% of its shares from the UK Treasury, which became the bank's majority shareholder during the financial crisis.

Shopping centre owner Hammerson was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘underweight’ at Barclays and to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs.

Investec slumped after it said full-year adjusted earnings per share are expected to be around 20% to 29% behind the prior year.

On the upside, US power generation firm ContourGlobal gained after it lifted its dividend as it reported a rise in annual adjusted core earnings boosted by its acquisition of Mexican CHP assets.

National Grid was a high riser after HSBC upgraded the shares to ‘buy’.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,717.74 -0.91%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,412.45 -0.72%
techMARK (TASX) 4,191.14 -0.71%

FTSE 100 - Risers

National Grid (NG.) 846.40p 2.10%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,625.00p 0.57%
NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 191.25p 0.39%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 576.60p 0.38%
Pennon Group (PNN) 966.60p 0.35%
BT Group (BT.A) 151.80p 0.33%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 6,162.00p 0.16%
Sage Group (SGE) 580.40p 0.14%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,009.00p 0.12%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 884.40p 0.11%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

BP (BP.) 303.95p -2.56%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 121.75p -2.25%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,127.00p -2.09%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,071.00p -2.03%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,479.20p -2.03%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 432.75p -1.99%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,410.40p -1.97%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,356.00p -1.96%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,846.00p -1.95%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,004.00p -1.92%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 97.00p 2.11%
RIT Capital Partners (RCP) 2,395.00p 1.27%
Contour Global (GLO) 206.50p 1.23%
JPMorgan Euro Small Co. Trust (JESC) 477.00p 1.06%
Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Limited (SEQI) 105.00p 0.96%
Vectura Group (VEC) 119.80p 0.84%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,188.00p 0.68%
Signature Aviation (SIG) 400.00p 0.65%
AO World (AO.) 301.50p 0.50%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 320.00p 0.47%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 187.00p -10.74%
Hammerson (HMSO) 35.21p -5.45%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 470.80p -3.72%
Investec (INVP) 223.80p -3.16%
Energean (ENOG) 835.00p -2.93%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 54.16p -2.59%
Meggitt (MGGT) 492.80p -2.38%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 2,670.00p -2.38%
Essentra (ESNT) 275.20p -2.34%
SSP Group (SSPG) 319.20p -2.33%