London midday: Stocks extend losses; Ocado under pressure
London stocks had extended losses by midday 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 was down 1.3% at 7,459.63.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The recovery in the FTSE 100 ran out of puff on Friday as a turbulent start to 2022 continued.
"The index is still comfortably ahead of most global counterparts year-to-date though as January draws to a close.
"Once seen as about as fashionable as socks under sandals thanks to the absence of any big tech firms, the FTSE 100 is enjoying a renaissance amid renewed appetite for tobacco, banking and resources stocks - the latter helped by an oil price at $90 per barrel.
"Potential EU and UK sanctions on Russian gas projects, in an attempt to push back against the feared Russian invasion of Ukraine, would only add to the upward pressure on energy prices."
In equity markets, online supermarket Ocado slid after a German court considered that its IP rights may be invalid and halted its case against Norwegian robotics company AutoStore.
Phoenix Group was under the cosh after abrdn sold just under 40m shares the company at 660p each in placing to institutional investors, raising proceeds of around £264m. Abrdn was the top riser on the FTSE 100.
IG Group slumped after shareholder TCMI sold 15.5m shares in the online trading platform. The shares were placed 780p each, which is a 7.5% discount to the closing share price on Thursday.
Carnival was 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 lower by a downgrade to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs.
Cineworld lost ground after its legal battle with Canada’s Cineplex intensified as the latter submitted a new claim over compensation. Cineplex has filed a cross-appeal to Cineworld’s appeal against a court ruling in December ordering the UK-listed chain to pay CAN $1.23bn (£720m).
On the upside, broadcaster ITV rallied after an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’ at Barclays.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,459.63 -1.25%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,656.77 -0.91%
techMARK (TASX) 4,400.67 -0.65%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Abrdn (ABDN) 242.60p 1.85%
Next (NXT) 7,560.00p 1.78%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 10,900.00p 1.25%
BT Group (BT.A) 195.65p 1.08%
ITV (ITV) 112.00p 0.81%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 298.00p 0.68%
Kingfisher (KGF) 325.50p 0.62%
Tesco (TSCO) 301.60p 0.53%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 187.75p 0.40%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 561.20p 0.29%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,452.00p -6.92%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,007.00p -3.68%
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 661.40p -3.61%
Barclays (BARC) 196.32p -3.55%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 149.60p -3.42%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,952.50p -3.25%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,061.00p -3.06%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,474.50p -2.99%
Prudential (PRU) 1,228.00p -2.92%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,042.00p -2.89%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 1,258.00p 2.11%
Darktrace (DARK) 396.00p 2.06%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 171.40p 1.99%
International Public Partnerships Ltd. (INPP) 166.40p 1.71%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 298.60p 1.56%
Currys (CURY) 104.30p 1.56%
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 337.00p 1.51%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 247.40p 1.39%
HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,630.00p 1.15%
Pennon Group (PNN) 1,077.00p 1.03%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 842.00p -6.44%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 794.50p -6.03%
Carnival (CCL) 1,305.80p -5.88%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 178.40p -5.81%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 37.25p -5.58%
Provident Financial (PFG) 321.60p -4.51%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 228.50p -4.19%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 309.00p -3.74%
Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 213.50p -3.39%
Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 3,020.00p -3.21%