London close: FTSE traipses lower as sterling gains on poll ahead of UK vote
London stocks traipsed lower on Monday as sterling gained, with Wall St following suit, as UK investors took a cautious tone ahead of the general election on Thursday and after the weekend's terror attack on the UK capital.
This was as the latest poll by ICM for The Guardian put the Tories 11 percentage points ahead of Labour. Investors apparently placed less store in a YouGov poll indicating the Tories would fall 21 seats short of an overall majority.
At the end of trade, the FTSE 100 was down 0.29% to 7525.76, and the FTSE 250 was down 0.67% to 19,868.67. This was as sterling stepped higher on the dollar and euro.
Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, said "rather dreary, pound-heavy trading is likely the template for the rest of the week".
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, noted the wider tone of weak European markets. "That may have something to do with the Whit Monday holiday in Europe more than anything else, with German markets closed."
Jasper Lawler, senior market analyst at London Capital Group, said sterling's rise on hopes the Tories might be pulling away in the polls dented sentiment towards mining multinationals.
"Mining firms which make the bulk of their earnings in foreign currencies were the biggest drag," said Lawler. Oversupply concerns also weighed on iron ore and copper prices, and thus miners, too.
On the data front, the latest survey from IHS Markit and CIPS revealed that activity in the UK services sector slowed more than expected in May.
Markit said the slowdown in new order growth was linked to squeezed household budgets and, in some cases, delayed decision-making among clients ahead of the general election.
The mood in the markets has been overall circumspect, more so as further details emerged about the deadly terror attack at London Bridge and nearby Borough Market on Saturday.
"An under performance of travel and leisure stocks was a distinct reaction to the terror attack on London Bridge," said Lawler.
EasyJet, IAG, Merlin and Carnival were all lower, with the airlines also weighed down by concerns about the financial impact of laptop bans being extended to include tablet devices.
Oil prices were in the red, having reversed earlier gains, on news Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain had cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, citing concerns about its terrorist links.
In corporate news, Polymetal International announced an agreement to extend its existing $400m credit facility with Sberbank for seven years.
Vodafone and LG UPlus announced a new Partner Market agreement for South Korea where the former would share best practices with LG Uplus across all areas of their business, including network strategy and development.
Royal Mail has agreed to sell two of the seven plots on the site of its former south London mail centre at Nine Elms site to US-based developer Greystar for £101m cash.
Wolseley was boosted by an upgrade to 'overweight' at JPMorgan, while Antofagasta was hit by a downgrade at HSBC. AstraZeneca released positive results from a trial of a breast cancer drug. RSA Insurance announced plans for a European head office in Brussels.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,525.76 -0.29%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,868.67 -0.67%
techMARK (TASX) 3,649.98 -0.44%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Old Mutual (OML) 201.50p 2.28%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 753.00p 1.07%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 371.10p 0.92%
Next (NXT) 4,400.00p 0.89%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 259.70p 0.50%
BT Group (BT.A) 304.65p 0.49%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,489.00p 0.48%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 402.40p 0.47%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,499.00p 0.46%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 681.40p 0.44%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 776.50p -3.54%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,344.00p -3.24%
Sage Group (SGE) 709.50p -2.67%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,116.00p -2.58%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 592.00p -2.55%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 524.00p -2.42%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,500.00p -2.02%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,389.00p -1.91%
Intu Properties (INTU) 267.00p -1.80%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,622.00p -1.76%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Greencore Group (GNC) 255.20p 2.74%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 929.00p 2.37%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 414.30p 2.20%
Computacenter (CCC) 856.00p 1.73%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 3,781.00p 1.50%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 753.50p 1.41%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,750.00p 1.27%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 330.50p 1.26%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,307.00p 1.23%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 357.90p 1.19%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Restaurant Group (RTN) 345.20p -5.66%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 575.00p -5.27%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 471.20p -4.69%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,390.00p -3.78%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,420.00p -3.73%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 561.00p -3.53%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 449.00p -3.23%
Allied Minds (ALM) 140.00p -3.23%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 167.40p -3.06%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,501.00p -2.91%