Sector movers: Banks dip on eve of earnings season

Bank shares were mostly in the red on Monday ahead of a week in which most of the UK's big players are due to report first quarter earnings this week.

First out of the gate is Standard Chartered on Tuesday and its shares led the fallers on Monday, with the sector's shares having come off the lows in the first week of the month. Fellow Asia-focused bank HSBC, which is due to report on Tuesday 3 May, was down 1.6% to 459.14p.

For StanChart, while analysts at Deutsche predicted revenues rebounding from the decline in the fourth quarter as the first three months of the financial year is “typically a stronger quarter”, Citi said it they expect a “weak” quarter due to market volatility and a slowdown in China’s economy, which could affect fee and trading income.

For their tuppenceworth, Barclays analysts said though sentiment on emerging markets has improved, they believed "it will be difficult for Standard Chartered to halt its revenue decline particularly following a weak performance from other investment banks in Q1 and as the company continues to shed assets".

As for Lloyds Banking Group, which is scheduled to post results on Thursday, its shares down by a slightly sympathetic 0.6% to 67.58p as it's results are expected to be quite sedate.

Analysts at Barclays expect a "relatively steady" operating performance, with a stable net interest margin and subdued loan growth leaving net interest income flat on the previous quarter, although some risk seen to non-interest income.

Barclays, which is due to report on Wednesday, was down 0.7% to 170.35p by the close, having already at the start of the month, Barclays warned that due to the tough current market conditions for investment banking and on the back of a particularly strong March last year, it did not expect "as strong a performance from its investment banking operations for the whole of Q1 this year".

Royal Bank of Scotland, which posts its numbers on Friday, was 1.35% lower at 248.3p.

For RBS, Barclays expects another difficult quarter, particularly in its investment bank

"Earnings and capital will also be impacted by the £1.2bn payment to the UK government to exit the Dividend Access share and we estimate a further £0.8bn of below the line restructuring and conduct charges. Operationally, we expect a 21% YoY decline in income driven by a combination of softer net interest income and weaker trading income from CIB in a challenging market backdrop."

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,253.28 -0.91%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,953.09 0.48%
techMARK (TASX) 3,115.62 -0.17%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,698.00p 3.54%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,968.00p 2.56%
ITV (ITV) 232.30p 2.52%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 912.00p 2.47%
British Land Company (BLND) 700.00p 2.19%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 179.20p 2.11%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,146.00p 2.05%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 428.60p 1.93%
Intu Properties (INTU) 295.60p 1.76%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 522.50p 1.65%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Anglo American (AAL) 680.20p -7.18%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 517.10p -7.03%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 930.50p -5.78%
Glencore (GLEN) 154.95p -4.23%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,237.00p -4.18%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,762.50p -3.50%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,756.00p -3.20%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,350.00p -2.91%
BP (BP.) 358.40p -2.69%
Pearson (PSON) 808.50p -2.30%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ted Baker (TED) 2,579.00p 6.75%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,643.00p 6.41%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 955.50p 5.00%
Greggs (GRG) 1,086.00p 4.73%
Workspace Group (WKP) 810.50p 4.51%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 282.10p 4.48%
Countrywide (CWD) 364.00p 4.39%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 233.40p 4.20%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 340.30p 4.16%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 497.30p 4.15%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Aggreko (AGK) 1,069.00p -3.95%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 410.10p -3.94%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 608.50p -3.87%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 182.20p -3.44%
Investec (INVP) 528.00p -2.31%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,186.00p -2.23%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 483.80p -2.20%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 105.50p -2.13%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 313.40p -2.06%
IMI (IMI) 961.50p -1.74%