London midday: FTSE dips as energy shares take a hit; Royal Mail rallies
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 18 Nov 2021
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still a little weaker by midday on Thursday, with energy shares under the cosh as oil prices slid.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 7,277.05.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The FTSE 100 continues to drift having fallen just short in its effort to reclaim pre-pandemic levels.
"Once again, the index is left in the miserable position of being shown up by its global peers, many of which had put their Covid losses behind them months ago or even longer. In a global index sports team the FTSE is getting picked dead last.
"Mounting inflation has helped drag the index back as it raises the likelihood of a pre-Christmas rate rise, thereby boosting the pound. When some 70% of its constituents' earnings are derived from overseas, strength in sterling isn't that helpful."
In equity markets, GlaxoSmithKline was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 as it traded without entitlement to the dividend.
Shell and BP were sharply lower as the oil price hit a near six-week low after the US reportedly asked some of the world's largest oil consuming nations to consider releasing crude stockpiles.
Waste management company Biffa lost ground even as it reinstated its dividend and backed full-year expectations as it said adjusted operating profit returned to pre-pandemic levels in the first half. The stock was hit by a downgrade to 'hold' from 'add' at Peel Hunt, which also slashed its price target to 395p from 430p.
Rotork slumped after the flow control and instrumentation maker said second-half revenue would be squeezed as supply-chain pressures continued.
On the upside, Royal Mail rallied after saying it would return £400m of cash to shareholders as the delivery service swung to a statutory profit in the first half of the year. Operating profit for the six months to 26 September was £311m compared with a £20m loss a year earlier as revenue rose 7.3% to £6.07bn. Pre-tax profit rose to £315m from £17m.
Housebuilders were on the rise after Crest Nicholson lifted its full-year profit expectations as the contribution from the sale of its share in the Surrey Longcross film studio was more than expected. It also hailed a strong sales performance throughout the second half.
Gambling software maker Playtech advanced after confirming it has received an approach from the JKO consortium that includes former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan about a potential bid. It is the third approach is the after Gopher Investments expressed an interest in Playtech a couple of days after it accepted Aristocrat Leisure £2.1bn offer.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,277.05 -0.19%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,520.51 0.37%
techMARK (TASX) 4,569.07 -0.44%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Mail (RMG) 461.30p 5.32%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,801.00p 4.13%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 158.55p 3.70%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,440.00p 3.35%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 691.80p 3.35%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,579.50p 2.87%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 741.40p 2.66%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 6,802.00p 2.04%
Informa (INF) 517.00p 1.97%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,354.50p 1.57%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,518.60p -2.59%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,747.00p -2.40%
Darktrace (DARK) 539.50p -1.91%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,660.40p -1.86%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,488.50p -1.85%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,243.00p -1.84%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,659.00p -1.80%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,481.50p -1.72%
Fresnillo (FRES) 970.40p -1.66%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,876.00p -1.64%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Restaurant Group (RTN) 92.60p 4.87%
Playtech (PTEC) 773.50p 4.39%
Rank Group (RNK) 156.20p 3.99%
Bellway (BWY) 3,236.00p 3.62%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 345.40p 3.41%
IWG (IWG) 308.00p 2.91%
Indivior (INDV) 248.80p 2.89%
Drax Group (DRX) 565.50p 2.82%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 535.00p 2.69%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 208.00p 2.46%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Biffa (BIFF) 336.00p -14.94%
Rotork (ROR) 346.00p -6.94%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 201.60p -3.17%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 400.10p -3.05%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 132.00p -2.87%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 298.00p -2.80%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 285.00p -2.66%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 373.60p -2.61%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 169.20p -2.42%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 23.12p -1.87%
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