Sector movers: Housebuilders and banks on the rise
Media, drinks, tobacco and personal goods were the sectors in the red on Wednesday, as the FTSE 100 slipped back but its smaller sibling continued to climb with help from housebuilders, challenger banks and construction materials.
Within the media sector, all but one of the FTSE 350 stocks were under water. Leading the march lower was Entertainment One, Informa, Relx and Auto Trader, while ITV and WPP were among the least affected and Euromoney was in the green.
In beverages, Diageo and AG Barr were leading the decline, while other consumer-focused defensives, tobacco and personal goods, were also lower.
Some observers suggested extra caution about consumers might have been evident with Thursday's Bank of England meeting in mind, though interest rates are very unlikely to be lifted.
There was also an academic report suggesting that large tobacco companies are not paying enough UK corporation tax compared to the profits they make.
Miners and oil and gas producers were both flattish on average, with risers such as BP, Kaz Minerals and Hoschchild balanced out by laggards such as Shell, BHP and Acacia.
Industrial metals had a better time, with Ferexxpo surging on the back of a positive Barclays note and Evraz climbing.
Optimism on China-US trade talks drew metal prices higher, said analysts at broker SP Angel, as President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech announced a trade deal with China will have to address not only what he called the chronic US trade deficit but also changes in Chinese policies to protect American workers and businesses.
Trade representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will lead a delegation to Beijing next week to lay groundwork for a Trump-Xi meeting later this month, with the President looking to impress everyone with a deal before the 1 March deadline.
Housebuilders were lifted by reassuring results from Barratt Developments and Redrow. Barratt, the sector market leader, rallied after saying it grew profits 19% in the first half of its trading year and that it was in a strong position in spite of the uncertainty around Brexit.
FTSE 250 peer Redrow posted a record set of interim results despite Brexit-related uncertainty hitting sales and announced a 30p per share cash return to shareholders through a B share scheme, in addition to a 10p dividend.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "For all the fears around Brexit hurting the housing market, housebuilders continue to churn out the profits and dish out generous cash rewards for shareholders.
“Barratt Developments, in particular, has produced a set of half year results that most companies would die for. Its pre-tax profit is growing faster than revenue, the dividend keeps storming ahead, and it continues to push up the returns it gets from investing in the business."
Berkeley Group, Persimmon and Galliford Try were all trading higher.
Banks were also led higher after results from CYBG, the operator of Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money UK. The group reported "good progress" with the integration of Virgin Money since completing the merger in October, with lending up and margins stronger than expected despite pressure from the highly competitive UK mortgage market.
Metro Bank, RBS, Lloyds and Barclays were all higher and only HSBC and TBC Bank was in the red.
Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining +3.39%
Leisure Goods +2.36%
Construction & Materials +1.20%
Mobile Telecommunications +1.05%
Real Estate Investment & Services +0.95%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Media -1.13%
Beverages -1.10%
Tobacco -0.94%
Personal Goods -0.84%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution -0.67%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,164.19 -0.18%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,062.35 0.35%
techMARK (TASX) 3,460.42 0.46%
FTSE 100 - Risers
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 531.20p 2.71%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 561.00p 2.67%
Evraz (EVR) 525.80p 2.22%
CRH (CRH) 2,353.00p 2.17%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,734.50p 1.97%
Tesco (TSCO) 229.90p 1.86%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,310.00p 1.76%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,318.50p 1.54%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,459.00p 1.46%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 142.96p 1.35%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 965.20p -6.65%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,178.10p -2.72%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,847.00p -1.90%
Relx plc (REL) 1,710.50p -1.64%
Rightmove (RMV) 472.70p -1.55%
Centrica (CNA) 138.59p -1.39%
Diageo (DGE) 2,928.00p -1.26%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 255.55p -1.24%
Informa (INF) 691.00p -1.20%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 449.40p -1.19%
FTSE 250 - Risers
CYBG (CYBG) 201.80p 12.86%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 258.90p 8.19%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 589.86p 6.55%
Superdry (SDRY) 514.50p 6.21%
Grainger (GRI) 239.00p 3.64%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 3,040.00p 2.53%
Energean Oil & Gas (ENOG) 644.60p 2.43%
Sanne Group (SNN) 514.00p 2.39%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,898.00p 2.11%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 621.20p 2.07%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Royal Mail (RMG) 278.40p -2.76%
Sabre Insurance Group (SBRE) 275.00p -2.14%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,117.00p -2.02%
Contour Global (GLO) 165.70p -1.89%
Rank Group (RNK) 168.80p -1.86%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 153.80p -1.85%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,224.00p -1.81%
Greencore Group (GNC) 197.10p -1.74%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 727.00p -1.62%
IP Group (IPO) 106.20p -1.48%