London midday: FTSE falls on ex-dividend stocks

The FTSE was weighed down a number of ex-dividend stocks, including the likes of Ashtead, AstraZeneca, Barclays, Berkeley Group, BT, GlaxoSmithKline, Fresnillo, Man Group, Royal Dutch Shell, Lloyds, Rio Tinto and Standard Chartered, among others.

Investors also continued to digest news that the Bank of England fell short of its government bond buying target on Tuesday. The BoE bought £1.12bn of gilts on the second day of its new programme, below its target of £1.17bn as part of its £60bn six-month commitment. However, the central bank said it would make up the shortfall in the next three to six months.

“Sentiment may have been dented by BoE QE teething problems over the last couple of days with that ever-present worry that central banks are not only running out of options, but are also pushing their luck with certain areas of the market - like pension funds,” said Accendo Markets analyst Augustin Eden.

“This is important. While people can easily be confused by jargon and the technicalities of QE, they understand very well what pensions are, have likely been paying into one for some years and will not be endowed with confidence by watching pension deficits widen due to zero yielding bonds.”

Meanwhile, oil prices wavered after data from the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday showed an unexpected build in weekly crude inventories and following record Saudi Arabian production. Brent crude rose 0.09% to $44.09 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate fell 0.16% to $41.64 per barrel.

In Brexit-related news, a survey by the Royal Institution of Charted Surveyors (Rics) showed British house price growth slowed in the month following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

Its headline price balance - a leading indicator of other house price indexes - fell to +5 in July from +15 in June, its lowest level since April 2013. Analysts had forecast a reading of +6.

Property transactions fell at the same pace as in June, marking the weakest two months since mid-2008.

Rics members cited uncertainty following the 23 June referendum and higher stamp duty on buy-to-let and second home purchases.

Housebuilding stocks were under the cosh following the report, including Berkeley Group, Taylor Wimpey, Travis Perkins and Persimmon.

Travis Perkins was also dragged down by Barclays which downgraded its rating on the stock to ‘underweight’ from equalweight’ and cut its target price to 1,400p from 1,950p. Barclays said Brexit will have a larger impact on the business than the market expects, which will hit the valuation.

Old Mutual was under pressure as its first-half results fell short of expectations.

Legal & General Group edged down after agreeing the sale of its Cofunds investment platform to Aegon for £140m.

Card Factory slumped as it reported that the retail environment had been "challenging" in the first half as sales were lower than normal.

On the upside, TUI gained after it said revenues shrank in the third quarter but the travel group was still confident of hitting its full year targets.

Coca-Cola HBC rallied after the soft-drink bottler reported a 2.4% increase in foreign exchange-neutral sales revenue in the first half.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,852.68 -0.20%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,711.10 0.06%
techMARK (TASX) 3,513.27 0.03%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,689.00p 7.51%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,045.00p 3.26%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,952.50p 1.93%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,630.00p 1.77%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,616.00p 1.76%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,496.00p 1.56%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 4,120.00p 1.53%
National Grid (NG.) 1,092.50p 1.49%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,445.00p 1.45%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,514.00p 1.27%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,462.00p -5.78%
Old Mutual (OML) 214.10p -5.06%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 375.30p -4.50%
BT Group (BT.A) 391.65p -4.10%
British Land Company (BLND) 646.50p -2.64%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,933.50p -2.57%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 150.00p -2.47%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,523.00p -2.37%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,872.00p -2.32%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,661.00p -2.01%

FTSE 250 - Risers

DFS Furniture (DFS) 258.20p 15.27%
G4S (GFS) 240.70p 5.94%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 380.20p 2.98%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 212.00p 2.86%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 357.90p 2.40%
Regus (RGU) 307.10p 2.33%
Ascential (ASCL) 245.70p 2.33%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 527.00p 1.93%
William Hill (WMH) 330.70p 1.91%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 152.20p 1.81%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Card Factory (CARD) 293.60p -8.31%
Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) 96.20p -4.28%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 147.50p -3.97%
Derwent London (DLN) 2,730.00p -3.16%
Bellway (BWY) 2,052.00p -2.98%
Countrywide (CWD) 231.50p -2.89%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 367.80p -2.39%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 228.50p -2.35%
Redrow (RDW) 333.00p -2.35%
Genus (GNS) 1,888.00p -2.28%