London close: FTSE ends mixed with HSBC, Mediclinic weighing on blue chips

London shares were a little mixed at the closing bell, with blue chips led down by the out-of-favour stocks HSBC and Mediclinic on unwelcome news-flow against a backdrop of a weaker sterling.

Ferguson Enterprises Inc. (DI)

15,770.00p

15:45 15/11/24

-2.59%

-420.00p

Health Care Equipment & Services

10,430.75

15:44 15/11/24

0.23%

23.76

Travel & Leisure

8,607.27

15:45 15/11/24

-0.29%

-25.35

FTSE 100 ended down 0.34% to 7,274.83, and FTSE 250 ended up 0.14% to 18,722.21. The FTSE 350 index for banks was particularly hard pressed, falling almost 4% by session's end.

SpreadEx financial analyst Connor Campbell said the FTSE 100 found itself stuck below 7300 for the umpteenth day, dragged lower by a HSBC-led slide in the banking sector.

"In that regard, however, things should pick up tomorrow, with Lloyds set to report a leap in profit from £1.6bn to £4.4bn year-on-year," he said in a statement.

HSBC slumped following its bigger-than-expected drop in annual profits. The largest company on the FTSE 100 delivered a reported pre-tax profit of $7.1bn that was down 62% on the year.

The bank also ponied up with a £1bn share buyback and offered assurances about maintaining its dividend to keep investors onside, albeit to little apparent avail.

It was followed by Mediclinic, whose shares plummeted as it warned there would be a fall in revenue in its Middle East business.

Other blue chips prominently lower included gold sensitive miners Randgold and Fresnillo as the yellow metal's price eased, with lenders Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered retreating too.

A fall in underlying sales at Asda during Q4 served to put pressure on the fiercely competitive supermarkets sector, this seeing Tesco, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer lower.

Of those rising, outsourcer Capita reversed earlier losses to trade up after writing down the value of a number of historic contracts.

Other stocks that featured in trade because of corporate news were Anglo American, Wolseley, BHP Billiton and InterContinental Hotels.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, noted the FTSE 100 was under selling pressure, adding "all is merry" in Europe. The Euro Stoxx 50 was up, as were the DAX and CAC 40.

"Overall eurozone growth in both manufacturing and services looks good, but with CPI figures still not showing much improvement the euro has seen fresh selling," he said.

In the meantime, sterling was undermined by comments from BoE chief economist Andy Haldane earlier on Tuesday. He appeared alongside BoE governor Mark Carney before the Treasury Select Committee.

Haldane said a sharp rise in market expectations for an interest hike could tighten credit conditions and hurt the economy.

Carney, who was being questioned on the Inflation Report, said the BoE expected the drop in the pound to push up inflation all the way until 2020.

On the data front, investors digested Office for National Statistics figures that showed a smaller-than-expected surplus last month.

UK public sector net borrowing was in surplus by £9.4bn in January -- a key month for income tax receipts -- up a touch from £9.1bn in the same month a year ago and the highest January surplus since 2000, but worse than consensus estimates for a £14bn surplus.

For the current financial year-to-date, public sector net borrowing fell by £13.6bn to £49.3bn compared with the same period in the previous financial year, which is the lowest YTD borrowing since the financial year ending January 2008.

Meanwhile, the government’s total debt pile rose to £1.7trn at the end of January, a £91.7bn rise since end-January 2016. Significantly, it meant Chancellor Philip Hammond was on track to meet his 2016/2017 fiscal targets.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,274.83 -0.34%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,772.21 0.14%
techMARK (TASX) 3,358.85 0.08%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Capita (CPI) 535.00p 4.09%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 732.50p 3.46%
Sage Group (SGE) 648.00p 2.13%
Worldpay Group (WPG) 272.30p 1.68%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 963.00p 1.42%
GKN (GKN) 350.20p 1.33%
BP (BP.) 450.80p 1.26%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,533.00p 1.19%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,723.00p 1.17%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 868.50p 1.16%