London midday: Stocks fall in rangebound trading
Sharp falls in the airline, mining and housebuilding sectors were providing a drag on London stock markets on Friday, with very little newsflow to give sentiment a boost as traders locked in gains following the recent rally.
The FTSE 100 was trading just 14 points (-0.2%) lower at 8,246 by just before the midday mark, with very little (27 points) separating the intraday high and low. The index had gained 1.1% the previous session, having risen in five of the past six sessions prior to Friday.
Sector peers easyJet and IAG were out of favour, with a near-2% surge in oil prices the previous session unlikely helping matters. Brent crude had pulled back 0.5% to $75.56 a barrel in morning trade, but stayed close to its highest level in two months.
"Brent crude is hovering around $76 a barrel, having gained around 5% in a week," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. "A bigger-than-expected drawdown of oil stocks in the US and hopes for a fresh stimulus boost for the energy hungry Chinese economy are behind the push higher in crude prices."
In contrast, budget airline Wizz Air erased early losses to push into positive territory after reporting a 1.9% year-on-year increase in passenger numbers for December. However, capacity declined as it continued to ground aircraft due to problems with Pratt & Whitney engines.
Unsurprisingly, energy giants BP and Shell were among the best performers on the FTSE 100, while Harbour Energy and Ithaca Energy gained on the FTSE 250.
Housebuilders were among the worst performers of the day after mortgage approval data showed an unexpected decline. Barratt Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon, Bellway and Vistry were all in the red, with the latter extending losses made last week when it delivered its third profit warning in as many months.
Data from the Bank of England revealed that mortgage approvals dropped to 65,720 in November, from 68,129 in October; analysts had expected a tick up to 68,500. Net lending to individuals also shrank during the month.
Mining stocks were also out of favour, having performed well the previous session, with heavyweights Glencore, Anglo American and Antofagasta among the fallers.
“The FTSE 100 failed to maintain recent momentum as weakness in the mining sector put the index on the back foot,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. "Miners’ fortunes are closely tied to the commodity-hungry Chinese economy where faltering stimulus efforts, uneven economic data, and the threat of tariffs continue to raise questions about metals demand."
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,245.72 -0.17%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,588.52 -0.25%
techMARK (TASX) 4,624.11 -0.42%
FTSE 100 - Risers
BP (BP.) 408.30p 1.28%
Shell (SHEL) 2,554.50p 1.09%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 392.50p 0.82%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 992.00p 0.71%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 69.32p 0.64%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,602.00p 0.62%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 117.80p 0.60%
Schroders (SDR) 324.80p 0.43%
Kingfisher (KGF) 248.40p 0.40%
Aviva (AV.) 475.40p 0.40%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 425.90p -2.00%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 20,490.00p -1.96%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 120.00p -1.84%
easyJet (EZJ) 547.60p -1.76%
Spirax Group (SPX) 6,730.00p -1.75%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,164.00p -1.69%
Entain (ENT) 683.60p -1.61%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 9,876.00p -1.54%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,842.00p -1.49%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,963.00p -1.36%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 133.50p 3.97%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 325.90p 3.39%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 81.40p 1.75%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 264.90p 1.61%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 119.80p 1.53%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 363.80p 1.39%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 2,588.00p 1.09%
C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 148.00p 1.09%
Pacific Horizon Inv Trust (PHI) 577.00p 1.05%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 988.20p 1.04%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 81.50p -3.55%
North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 3,610.00p -2.43%
Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited Ptg NPV (FEML) 684.80p -2.39%
Indivior (INDV) 982.00p -2.19%
Vistry Group (VTY) 554.50p -1.86%
Carnival (CCL) 1,802.50p -1.80%
Bellway (BWY) 2,388.00p -1.73%
Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 650.75p -1.70%
Mobico Group (MCG) 78.60p -1.63%
Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 384.50p -1.41%