London close: Dollar strength weighs on stocks

London stocks ended in the red on Monday, weighed by Reckitt Benckiser as investors paused for breath after the prior week's solid gains.

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.64% to 7,247.66, while the pound was drifting 0.06% lower versus the dollar at 1.4003 and 0.19% lower versus the euro at 1.1288.

Chris Beauchamp at IG said: "A key driver of FTSE weakness this afternoon has been the mining sector, as the more robust dollar hits commodity prices.

"Investors continue to demonstrate an aversion to the higher-beta stocks, so London's miners have borne the brunt of this today. A wider sell-off should see this intensify, although given the strong economic outlook such weakness could well be a buying opportunity."

There were no major data releases on Monday, although traders were keeping an eye out for a speech from Bank of England Governor Mark Carney at Regents University at 1845 GMT.

Later in the week would also see the release of the UK unemployment rate and average earnings figures on Wednesday and GDP data on Thursday.

Investors were digesting the latest survey from Rightmove released earlier, which showed the average UK asking price rose 0.8% on the month in February following a 0.7% jump the month before. On the year, house prices were up 1.5% compared to a 1.1% increase in January.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: "This month's rise of 0.8% is well below the 1.6% monthly average at this time of year over the last 10 years, and it is wise for sellers to be cautious and not to over-price given stretched buyer affordability."

In corporate news, consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser was under the cosh as it vowed to return to growth after reporting flat like-for-like sales for 2017.

Polymetal International slipped after it agreed to increase its stake in the Russian Prognoz silver property to 50% from 5% for $72m to be paid in Polymetal shares.

James Fisher was a little weaker after saying it had bought Australian recompression chamber maker Cowan Manufacturing for AUD $2.6m (£1.5m) in cash.

AstraZeneca ticked lower after it and MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Imfinzi for the treatment of patients with unresectable Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), whose disease has not progressed following concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation therapy (CRT).

On the upside, Spectris rallied as it posted a 12% increase in full-year pre-tax profit and a 13% rise in revenue, while Fidessa racked up strong gains after saying full-year pre-tax profit and revenue rose 2% and 7%, respectively.

Retailer N Brown advanced after announcing that Matt Davies, Tesco's UK and Ireland boss, will succeed Andrew Higginson as its chairman.

FTSE 250 merchanting and DIY group Grafton rose after announcing the acquisition of London-based independent specialist decorators’ merchant Leyland SDM for £82.4m on a debt-free, cash-free basis.

Saga slipped lower near the end of the session after saying it has appointed Patrick O'Sullivan as chairman with effect from 1 May.

In broker note action, Kier was initiated at 'buy' by Stifel, while AA was downgraded to 'sell' by Berenberg.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,247.66 -0.64%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,653.57 -0.41%
techMARK (TASX) 3,302.86 -0.56%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Evraz (EVR) 412.00p 4.41%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 372.90p 2.39%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 616.00p 1.32%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,881.50p 0.99%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 556.00p 0.76%
Tesco (TSCO) 205.90p 0.64%
Centrica (CNA) 128.85p 0.55%
Barclays (BARC) 201.00p 0.47%
Old Mutual (OML) 247.50p 0.45%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,668.00p 0.40%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,100.00p -7.13%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,109.50p -2.89%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,058.00p -2.83%
Just Eat (JE.) 866.40p -2.65%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,363.00p -2.64%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,140.00p -2.63%
WPP (WPP) 1,438.00p -2.24%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,154.00p -2.23%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 896.80p -1.95%
SEGRO (SGRO) 579.80p -1.93%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,915.00p 11.90%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 198.40p 4.97%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 356.50p 4.12%
Spectris (SXS) 2,743.14p 3.63%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 269.00p 3.10%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 461.70p 2.97%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 590.50p 2.87%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 188.40p 2.67%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,030.00p 2.49%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 489.40p 2.38%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Sophos Group (SOPH) 500.00p -6.10%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 140.90p -5.44%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 155.00p -4.88%
Purecircle Limited (DI) (PURE) 426.50p -3.72%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 102.50p -3.57%
AA (AA.) 114.50p -3.50%
IWG (IWG) 233.70p -3.47%
Marshalls (MSLH) 403.20p -2.94%
Capita (CPI) 185.12p -2.82%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 228.50p -2.77%