London midday: UK stocks hit by Ebola worries, travel stocks fall

The Footsie was down 0.3% at 6,397 by midday, but had pared losses after hitting a low of 6,374.24 early on. The index rose to 6,419.15 on Thursday, its best close since 9 October.

A New York-based doctor who has recently been working in Guinea has become the fourth person in the US to have been diagnosed with Ebola. Craig Spencer reportedly came down with a fever on Thursday and has now been transferred to a hospital in Manhattan.

US stock futures were trading lower on Friday after a strong surge on Wall Street the previous day after earnings results from the likes Caterpillar, 3M and General Motors impressed, along with decent economic data.

"Now that New York has joined the list of cities with Ebola cases US awareness about this deadly virus is set to dramatically increase, and that nervousness will undoubtedly be transmitted to US equity markets," said Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG.

In other news, markets were also digesting the news that Chinese property prices fell at an annual rate of 1.3% in September, the first year-on-year decline in nearly two years.

The only other major piece of economic data on Friday was the preliminary estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product growth in the UK, which showed that the rate of expansion slowed to 0.7% from 0.9% in the second quarter. The figure was in line with analysts' expectations and was "reassuring in terms of the capacity of the British economy to weather global and domestic headwinds", said Fabrice Montagne from Barclays.

Ebola worries hit travel stocks, Pearson fall

Airlines, travel and leisure stocks were in the red on the back of Ebola fears, with IAG, Easyjet, Intercontinental Hotels, TUI Travel and Carnival all registering losses.

Publishing and education group Pearson fell after revealing that its chief financial officer is to step down after 10 years of service. The Financial Times owner reiterated its profit guidance for the full year, but shares were under pressure.

Third-quarter numbers from pharmaceutical group Shire were released at midday, showing that revenues reached a record $1,597m in the third quarter, up 32% year-on-year. The stock quickly erased earlier losses following the release.

UK challenger bank TSB impressed with 32% higher third-quarter profits as it said it was ahead of its long-term target in attracting customers switching from other banks.

Pet shop chain Pets at Home was also in demand after saying first-half sales increased 10.2% and it was on track to hit full-year forecasts.

Pharmaceuticals group Hikma dropped after revealed it had received a warning letter from the US Food and Drug Administration relating to its manufacturing facility in Portugal. The agency raised issues related to investigations and environmental monitoring at the facility.

Electrical engineering firm Spectris jumped despite warning that full-year operating profit will be "modestly below" market expectations due to little improvement in the economic conditions of its main geographies. Investec kept a 'buy' rating on the stock, saying that the update was "soft, but not disastrous".

Diamond miner Petra rose after saying that the 232-carat white diamond found at its Cullinan mine last month was sold for $15.2m.


Market Movers
techMARK 2,693.57 +0.15%
FTSE 100 6,397.23 -0.34%
FTSE 250 15,138.78 +0.02%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 200.20p +1.70%
3i Group (III) 381.90p +1.17%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,003.00p +1.06%
Kingfisher (KGF) 294.50p +0.99%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 868.00p +0.99%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,903.00p +0.76%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,107.00p +0.73%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,422.00p +0.71%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 76.82p +0.64%
Old Mutual (OML) 184.60p +0.60%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Pearson (PSON) 1,135.00p -2.91%
BT Group (BT.A) 368.70p -2.10%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 496.40p -1.80%
Tesco (TSCO) 168.15p -1.67%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,227.00p -1.46%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,840.00p -1.41%
Next (NXT) 6,535.00p -1.36%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,010.00p -1.28%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,410.00p -1.23%
BP (BP.) 433.80p -1.17%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Spectris (SXS) 1,744.00p +6.02%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 133.80p +4.69%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 177.20p +3.02%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 206.00p +3.00%
esure Group (ESUR) 239.20p +2.13%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 365.90p +2.04%
Essentra (ESNT) 672.50p +1.89%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 274.20p +1.86%
Genus (GNS) 1,181.00p +1.81%
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 47.60p +1.73%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,796.00p -5.47%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 230.50p -4.36%
IP Group (IPO) 190.00p -3.50%
Debenhams (DEB) 62.00p -2.21%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 154.70p -2.09%
Fenner (FENR) 299.80p -2.03%
Senior (SNR) 260.50p -1.99%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 157.90p -1.93%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,485.00p -1.78%
Evraz (EVR) 129.00p -1.75%