London close: Stocks mixed at end of quiet Wednesday
London stocks finished in a mixed state on Wednesday, as investors digested the latest comments from Federal Reserve officials and sifted through corporate news.
The FTSE 100 ended the session down 0.04% at 7,026.93, while the FTSE 250 was 0.9% higher at 22,640.08.
Sterling was heading in different directions as well, last trading 0.21% weaker against the dollar at $1.4123, while gaining 0.22% on the euro to €1.1576.
“A bit of a dreich day for European equity markets, with nothing moving much at all,” quipped Markets.com chief market analyst Neil Wilson, adding that all the main bourses traded flat.
“US markets are mildly higher as Wall Street’s bank chiefs testify in front of Congress.
“The dollar caught a big bid into the London fix,” he added.
“Dovish comments from the European Central Bank’s Panetta - too early to taper bond purchases - had already set the euro on a downward trajectory through the session.”
Gold prices hit their highest level since January earlier in the day, as concerns about inflation continued to grow.
The precious metal breached $1,900 per ounce early on Wednesday, though it edged marginally lower again as the session wore on.
By 1400 BST, it was trading at around $1,898.
Prices were being supported by the prospect of higher inflation as well as a weaker dollar, given gold, a safe-haven asset, is traditionally seen as a hedge to high inflation.
“Rising inflation and falling treasury yields continue to benefit precious metals,” said Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG.
“The experiences of 2008 highlight how the prolonged growth in the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet should allow for a drawn-out gold bull market well after the original economic collapse.
“However, with the Fed having acted at greater speed and size in comparison to 2008, the question for gold bulls is just how long we will see the Federal Open Market Committee maintain their accommodative stance.”
In equity markets, British Land was 3.66% weaker after it said annual profit fell by more than one-third, and the value of its properties dropped by more than 10% as the Covid-19 crisis took its toll on the commercial landlord.
Inspection, product testing and certification group Intertek was down 5.01% despite posting year-to-date like-for-like revenue growth of 2.7% and saying it was on track to deliver its 2021 revenue targets.
Drinks company C&C Group tumbled 11.36% as it announced a rights issue to raise £151m, reported a 56% slide in full-year revenue and said it swung to an operating loss as it took a hit from the pandemic.
Going the other way, Croda International managed gains of 2.63% after an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs.
Sticking with broker notes, Flutter Entertainment was boosted 1.39% by an upgrade to ‘hold’ at HSBC.
Elsewhere, food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer gained 8.5% despite saying it swung to a heavy full-year loss as it felt the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company reported pre-tax losses of £209.4m for the 53 weeks to April 3 compared with a profit of £67.2m a year earlier.
Group revenue fell to £9.1bn from £8.9bn.
Softcat rallied 6.93% as the IT provider upgraded annual earnings guidance after reporting double-digit revenue growth in the third quarter.
Pharmaceutical company Vectura surged 33.77% after agreeing to be bought by US private equity firm the Carlyle Group in a £958m deal.
Outside the FTSE 350, Spire Healthcare jumped 26.94% after agreeing to be bought by Australia’s Ramsay Health Care for just under £1bn.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,026.93 -0.04%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,640.08 0.90%
techMARK (TASX) 4,373.76 1.02%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,412.00p 2.64%
Croda International (CRDA) 7,018.00p 2.63%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,350.00p 2.62%
Entain (ENT) 1,670.50p 2.27%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,900.00p 2.12%
Persimmon (PSN) 3,127.00p 2.02%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,682.00p 1.82%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,630.00p 1.65%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,041.50p 1.56%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,190.00p 1.56%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,650.00p -5.01%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,929.50p -3.81%
British Land Company (BLND) 500.60p -3.66%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 103.04p -2.26%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 498.00p -1.97%
Experian (EXPN) 2,734.00p -1.80%
Prudential (PRU) 1,493.50p -1.45%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 48.41p -1.33%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 481.10p -1.17%
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 734.80p -1.05%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Vectura Group (VEC) 163.20p 33.77%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 169.20p 8.50%
UK Commercial Property Reit Limited (UKCM) 77.90p 7.88%
Softcat (SCT) 1,929.00p 6.93%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 332.60p 6.81%
Hammerson (HMSO) 37.00p 5.68%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 374.50p 5.43%
NCC Group (NCC) 303.00p 5.31%
Elementis (ELM) 158.90p 4.34%
GCP Student Living (DIGS) 162.40p 4.10%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 270.00p -11.36%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 92.14p -1.85%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 510.50p -1.35%
Essentra (ESNT) 307.50p -1.28%
Just Group (JUST) 107.30p -1.20%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 2,895.00p -1.19%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 110.20p -1.08%
Quilter (QLT) 155.95p -1.02%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 1,196.00p -1.00%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,489.00p -0.93%