Sector movers: Commodities lead the fall, investors rotating into defensives
London stocks could not hold onto early gains on Friday to slip into the red, as most major miners and oil giants rumbled lower.
Although crude oil prices was bouncing they remain on course for the first seven-week losing streak in three years. With metals prices caving in, led by iron ore on Friday, it was generally only gold miners glistening among the commodity-centric stocks.
Though the mining sector shares looks cheaper after the recent slump, market analyst Chris Beauchamp at IG said worries about trade wars and the impact on raw material demand were continuing to push shares lower.
Defensive shares were also prominent in the upper echelons of the FTSE 350, with the tobacco sector a notable gainer.
The market is shifting into defensive mode, Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists said, noting investors pulled money out of US equities, technology and financials. Equities had seen $3.6bn of outflows this week, with $2.3bn flowing into bonds as investors choose to cut their holdings in more risky assets, BofAML said.
Industrial engineers were up in London on Friday, with Weir Group as an example up after hitting an 11-month low earlier in the week. Brent crude was up for a second day on Friday, but rallying just 0.4% to $71.71 per barrel.
Top performing sectors so far today
Leisure Goods 8,367.95 +0.75%
Tobacco 46,684.03 +0.51%
Industrial Engineering 13,003.62 +0.31%
Industrial Transportation 3,192.00 +0.16%
Food Producers & Processors 7,037.86 +0.01%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Mobile Telecommunications 3,914.31 -1.19%
Chemicals 16,433.22 -1.14%
Mining 16,559.14 -1.12%
Electricity 7,580.42 -0.84%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 13,811.43 -0.83%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,526.45 -0.40%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,392.02 -0.34%
techMARK (TASX) 3,537.71 -0.25%
FTSE 100 - Risers
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,194.50p 0.88%
Just Eat (JE.) 786.20p 0.87%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,324.00p 0.74%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,021.50p 0.64%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 634.20p 0.54%
Evraz (EVR) 463.70p 0.52%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,375.50p 0.51%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,683.50p 0.51%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 317.30p 0.41%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 2,159.00p 0.28%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 822.66p -2.48%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 538.50p -1.79%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 333.10p -1.51%
Prudential (PRU) 1,708.00p -1.50%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 641.50p -1.47%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,520.40p -1.46%
Kingfisher (KGF) 270.60p -1.42%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,549.00p -1.42%
Next (NXT) 5,450.00p -1.34%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 331.30p -1.31%
FTSE 250 - Risers
BTG (BTG) 528.82p 4.00%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 289.83p 3.14%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,806.00p 2.15%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 487.80p 1.96%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,809.50p 1.94%
IMI (IMI) 1,144.00p 1.78%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 232.00p 1.75%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,655.00p 1.72%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 431.00p 1.65%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 936.00p 1.52%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 478.80p -14.53%
AA (AA.) 111.95p -3.99%
IP Group (IPO) 120.20p -3.84%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 154.75p -3.61%
Indivior (INDV) 272.30p -3.44%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 287.40p -2.91%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 281.70p -2.86%
Charter Court Financial Services Group (CCFS) 330.00p -2.65%
Capita (CPI) 136.00p -2.61%
Drax Group (DRX) 372.40p -2.05%