London close: Stocks finish volatile week in the red
London stocks finished the last session of the week in negative territory on Friday, having taken their cue from a selloff in US tech shares, with tensions between Russia and Ukraine also weighing on the mood.
The FTSE 100 ended the session down 1.17% at 7,466.07, and the FTSE 250 was 0.97% weaker at 21,643.30.
"Earlier in the week European markets seemed broadly immune to the losses in the US, but that is changing as the DAX and FTSE 100 both fall sharply," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.
"This sign of broadening selling does not bode well for those that hope a bounce can develop once January is out of the way, and suggests that concerns about inflation and rising rates will hit the European financial markets once more.
"A shift in ECB rhetoric next week could put further pressure on continental European stocks."
There were no economic releases worth noting on this side of the Atlantic on Friday, but across the pond, consumer sentiment deteriorated in January to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to a survey from the University of Michigan.
The Michigan sentiment index fell to 67.2 from 70.6 in December and 79.0 in January 2021, with the index of current economic conditions printing at 72.0 in January, down from 74.2 the month before and 86.7 in the same month a year prior.
Meanwhile, the gauge for consumer expectations came in at 64.1 versus 68.3 the month before and 74.0 in January last year.
Surveys of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin said sentiment had fallen to its lowest level since November 2011.
"The current slump was due to two sharp declines separated by a brief interlude of rising optimism.
"The initial steep decline occurred in just two months, a 28.9% plunge in optimism from February to April 2020 due to the shutdown in the economy," he said.
In equity markets, online supermarket Ocado slid 7.53% after a German court considered that its intellectual property rights may be invalid, and halted its case against Norwegian robotics company AutoStore.
Phoenix Group was off 2.77% after Abrdn sold just under 40m shares the company at 660p each in placing to institutional investors, raising proceeds of around £264m.
Abrdn itself gained 1.6% by the end of trading.
IG Group slumped 5.38% after shareholder TCMI sold 15.5m shares in the online trading platform.
The shares were placed 780p each, which was a 7.5% discount to the closing share price on Thursday.
Carnival was 8.04% weaker after the cruise operator said it had seen a "dampening" in cruise bookings for the second half of the year compared to 2019.
Primark owner AB Foods was knocked 2.7% lower by a downgrade to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs.
Cineworld lost 4.03% after its legal battle with Canada’s Cineplex intensified as the latter submitted a new claim over compensation.
Cineplex filed a cross-appeal to Cineworld’s appeal against a court ruling in December ordering the UK-listed chain to pay CAD 1.23bn (£720m).
Precious metals miner Polymetal lost 4.16% after Berenberg slashed its price target on the shares to 1,500p from 2,200p following its production report.
Berenberg said production was a beat but the company missed on costs.
Gene cell therapy company Oxford Biomedica slumped 2.74% after saying it would form a viral vector manufacturing business with US-based Homology Medicines and acquire an 80% stake in the new firm, valued at about £175m including debt.
On the upside, broadcaster ITV eked out gains of 0.27% after an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’ at Barclays.
Medical solutions firm Convatec added 3.12% after agreeing to buy US-focussed medical device company Triad Life Sciences in a deal worth as much as $275.0m.
Dr. Martens closed up 2.72%, recovering from heavy losses on Thursday, when it reported a slowdown in third-quarter sales growth.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,466.07 -1.17%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,643.30 -0.97%
techMARK (TASX) 4,400.23 -0.66%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Kingfisher (KGF) 330.20p 2.07%
Next (NXT) 7,574.00p 1.97%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 10,965.00p 1.86%
BT Group (BT.A) 197.00p 1.78%
Abrdn (ABDN) 242.00p 1.60%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 148.00p 1.58%
Entain (ENT) 1,572.00p 1.55%
Sage Group (SGE) 711.20p 1.46%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 3,706.00p 1.23%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 127.62p 1.22%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,442.00p -7.56%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,048.50p -4.20%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,337.50p -3.88%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,321.50p -3.75%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 149.55p -3.45%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,386.00p -3.29%
Barclays (BARC) 196.88p -3.28%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,959.00p -2.92%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,476.50p -2.86%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,044.00p -2.86%
FTSE 250 - Risers
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 345.00p 3.92%
HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,690.00p 3.46%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 173.30p 3.12%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 303.00p 3.06%
Darktrace (DARK) 399.40p 2.94%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 396.50p 2.59%
JTC (JTC) 768.00p 2.40%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 219.50p 2.09%
Pantheon International (PIN) 309.50p 1.81%
Victrex plc (VCT) 2,048.00p 1.79%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 810.00p -10.22%
Carnival (CCL) 1,275.80p -8.04%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 176.80p -6.97%
Provident Financial (PFG) 317.80p -5.94%
NCC Group (NCC) 202.50p -5.87%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 303.00p -5.61%
Mitie Group (MTO) 60.50p -5.32%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 803.00p -5.03%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 227.00p -4.82%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 37.57p -4.77%