London close: Stocks weaker, AstraZeneca plunges on profit miss

The FTSE 100 ended the session down 0.49% at 7,347.91, and the FTSE 250 was off 0.07% at 23,557.52.

Sterling was in the green, meanwhile, last trading 0.28% stronger against the dollar at $1.3409, and advancing -.32% on the euro to €1.1715.

“Having recently hit its 20-month high, the FTSE is down as UK job adverts reached a new record, due to labour shortages continuing to be an issue,” said Oliver Males at Spreadex.

“According to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), the growth in job adverts showed no signs of slowing down in the build up to Christmas.

“The FTSE has also not been helped by AstraZeneca losing [more than] 6% of iots share price, as the pharma stock announced it was going to start taking profits from its Covid-19 vaccine.”

Males pointed out that was on the back of higher-than-expected quarterly sales of more than $1bn.

“Many will be hoping this is a blip in the overall trend of UK markets recently, as next week could be crucial with news on CPI and unemployment being released mid-week.”

Across the Atlantic, United States consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated in November amid growing worries about inflation.

The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s sentiment index fell to 66.8 from 71.6 in October, and 76.9 in November last year.

At the same time, the index of current economic conditions came in at 73.2 in November, down from 77.7 the month before and 87.0 a year ago, while the gauge for consumer expectations printed at 62.8, versus 67.9 in October and 70.5 in the same month a year ago.

Surveys of consumers chief economist Richard Curtin noted that consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level in a decade.

He put that down to an escalating inflation rate and the growing belief among consumers that no effective policies have yet been developed to reduce the damage from surging inflation.

“One-in-four consumers cited inflationary reductions in their living standards in November, with lower income and older consumers voicing the greatest impact,” Curtin said.

“Nominal income gains were widely reported but when asked about inflation-adjusted gains, half of all families anticipated reduced real incomes next year.

“Rising prices for homes, vehicles, and durables were reported more frequently than any other time in more than half a century.”

Closet to home, the Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into whether a capacity sharing agreement around driver-accompanied freight shipments on the Dover-Calais route, struck between ferry operators P&O Ferries and DFDS, had the potential to "prevent, restrict or distort" competition within the UK.

The competition regulator said it had not yet reached a view as to whether there was sufficient evidence of an infringement of competition law for it to issue a statement of objections, however.

In equity markets, AstraZeneca plunged 6.81% after its quarterly profit missed expectations, although the company said it would start making a profit from its Covid-19 vaccine from the fourth quarter onwards.

“AstraZeneca has seen little enthusiasm for their plan to shift into a strategy of ‘modest profitability’ for their vaccine product, with the company hoping to strike new deals at a more advantageous price,” said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.

“Coming off the back of a nine-month period that brought $2.2bn of vaccine sales, shareholders are clearly looking for the firm to boost the earnings outlook after earnings per share fell short of expectations.”

Wood Group slumped 4.53% after cutting its full-year guidance, while software group Aveva was knocked 0.77% lower by a downgrade to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ at Jefferies.

Endeavour Mining was 5.24% weaker, having gained on Thursday after saying it was "well-positioned" to beat full-year production guidance.

On the upside, Burberry added 4.03% and Johnson Matthey was ahead 1.28%, both having fallen sharply a day earlier on the back of updates.

Housebuilder Redrow was also on the rise, gaining 1.85% after saying it expected 2022 results to be similar to those achieved in 2019.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,347.91 -0.49%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,557.52 -0.07%
techMARK (TASX) 4,613.81 -0.60%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,936.00p 4.00%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,817.50p 3.15%
Rightmove (RMV) 724.40p 2.14%
3i Group (III) 1,458.50p 2.06%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 172.15p 1.68%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,480.00p 1.68%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,273.00p 1.65%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,326.50p 1.61%
BT Group (BT.A) 166.85p 1.55%
Halma (HLMA) 3,150.00p 1.55%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

AstraZeneca (AZN) 8,801.00p -6.81%
Darktrace (DARK) 583.00p -4.27%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 164.32p -2.86%
Evraz (EVR) 620.00p -2.15%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,206.00p -2.14%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,543.50p -2.09%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,483.50p -1.69%
Entain (ENT) 1,994.50p -1.51%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 143.24p -1.49%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,641.20p -1.42%

FTSE 250 - Risers

JTC (JTC) 886.00p 11.87%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 161.80p 7.15%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,260.00p 5.12%
Volution Group (FAN) 521.00p 4.30%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 134.70p 4.26%
Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 2,370.00p 3.04%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 5,145.00p 2.49%
Ascential (ASCL) 420.40p 2.34%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 237.80p 2.28%
Mitie Group (MTO) 70.60p 2.17%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Molten Ventures (GROW) 966.00p -6.03%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,990.00p -5.24%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 191.90p -4.53%
Carnival (CCL) 1,519.80p -3.66%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 307.50p -3.54%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 62.68p -3.39%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 225.90p -3.30%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 336.00p -2.89%
Reach (RCH) 331.00p -2.79%
Trainline (TRN) 299.20p -2.54%