London midday: FTSE gains as telecoms stocks boosted by deal news
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Monday 22 Nov 2021
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still in the black by midday on Monday, helped along by strength in the telecoms sector, but gains were unspectacular amid worries about tightening restrictions in Europe.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 7,247.19.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "There is some return of risk appetite in early exchanges, with the likes of the banks, airlines and leisure stocks recouping some of last week's falls, again underlining the fact that investors are still caught in two minds given the current backdrop."
Despite the positive tone, concerns about tightening Covid restrictions in Europe were growing, with Austria implementing a nationwide lockdown and Germany potentially set to follow suit.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "The realisation that a number of countries could see another disrupted Christmas hasn't gone down well in a number of European countries with civil disorder breaking out in a number of countries across the region, with Dutch police firing on demonstrators in Rotterdam, while in Austria protests broke out in Vienna over the governments mandating compulsory vaccination from 1st February next year.
"There's also been protests in Belgium, Croatia and Italy over the modest tightening of restrictions there as a number of European countries run the risk of losing control of the virus."
Meanwhile, Brent crude was trading below $79 a barrel for the first time in eight weeks amid worries about the impact of Covid restrictions.
In equity markets, BT Group and Vodafone rallied after private equity firm KKR made a $12bn takeover approach to Telecom Italia.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "There has been a lot of speculation about a possible takeover of BT of late, so the move by KKR creates some further excitement that Altice's Patrick Drahi could launch a bid."
BHP advanced after it and Woodside Petroleum signed a AUD$40bn petroleum merger deal, which will see Woodside acquire BHP's petroleum assets in return for a 48% in the combined company.
Diploma surged as it reported a 68% jump in full-year pre-tax profit to £141.9m amid improved demand and backed its outlook for FY22.
Marks & Spencer shares sparkled following a report that US private equity firm Apollo Global Management is considering a buyout.
Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Apollo will be weighing up the future value of Marks and Spencer's e-commerce tie-up with Ocado, and speculation that its success so far may lead the retailer to buy out Ocado's 50% share indicates the weight of expectation about its growth prospects.
"However, shares have surged more than 27% since those impressive results and if the price continues to climb, there is a chance Apollo may turn into more of a reluctant suitor."
On the downside, Hochschild Mining tumbled after it said it would fight what it called an "illegal" plan by Peru to close two of its mines on environmental grounds.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,247.76 0.33%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,531.13 0.16%
techMARK (TASX) 4,550.46 0.13%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Mail (RMG) 518.80p 4.07%
BT Group (BT.A) 165.40p 2.96%
Darktrace (DARK) 541.00p 2.56%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 138.82p 2.07%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,085.00p 1.98%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 151.44p 1.98%
Barclays (BARC) 194.44p 1.82%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 115.64p 1.78%
NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 224.40p 1.72%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,929.50p 1.55%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,418.00p -3.73%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,207.00p -1.21%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 11,410.00p -1.17%
Prudential (PRU) 1,436.50p -1.00%
Sage Group (SGE) 793.00p -0.83%
Evraz (EVR) 586.20p -0.64%
ITV (ITV) 120.00p -0.58%
Informa (INF) 511.60p -0.51%
3i Group (III) 1,436.50p -0.45%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,778.00p -0.41%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Diploma (DPLM) 3,414.00p 6.55%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 389.00p 4.57%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 2,200.00p 3.77%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 249.00p 3.32%
Investec (INVP) 383.50p 2.93%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 247.60p 2.82%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 548.00p 2.81%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,943.00p 2.64%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 214.80p 2.58%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 5,280.00p 2.52%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 107.90p -34.45%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 21.30p -4.31%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 58.66p -4.15%
Beazley (BEZ) 401.70p -3.97%
AO World (AO.) 127.00p -3.42%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 9,340.00p -2.71%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 99.26p -2.45%
Centrica (CNA) 65.88p -2.40%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 326.00p -1.95%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 295.00p -1.80%
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