London close: Footsie undermined by reports of SFO investigation into Glencore

London stocks edged a little lower on Friday as investors paused for breath following a record closing high a day earlier and with reports of a possible fraud investigation into Glencore dampening investor sentiment heading into the weekend.

AstraZeneca was the other main drag after posting slightly disappointing quarterly numbers.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.12% to 7,778.79, after setting a record close the day before, as energy shares benefited from a jump in oil prices.

Commenting on the Friday session, David Madden at CMC Markets UK said: "the SFO's investigation into Glencore has come on a day when weaker commodity prices have made themselves felt across the mining and oil sectors but outside of this there thankfully appears little read-across to the rest of the sector from Glencore’s woes.

"This at least means that the overall bounce in mining stocks has further to go thanks to the still-robust global growth environment. Sadly the FTSE 100 has not been able to clock up a patriotic new record high ahead of the royal wedding, but the trend is still intact and renewed weakness in sterling augurs well for further gains."

In parallel, the pound was down 0.25% against the dollar at 1.34830, and 0.15% lower versus the euro at 1.1442.

Brexit developments were coming into sharper focus in the background.

Prime Minister Theresa May is pushing a new plan for the UK to remain in a customs union with the EU after 2021 until an alternative solution is found to having a hard border in Ireland, which she plans to present to a European Council meeting next month. However Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar warned a new customs plan is likely to be insufficient to avoid a hard border.

In corporate news, losses in shares of Glencore undermined the top flight index as reports emerged that the Serious Fraud Office was making preparations to open a formal investigation into the company, over its work with the leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler.

AstraZeneca was under the cosh too as the pharmaceutical giant's first-quarter sales and earnings came in lower than expected due to investment in new drug launches and erosion of its Crestor statin drug.

Analysts at Jefferies said: "This quarter's relatively low core EPS number reflected a low externalisation and [other operating income] contribution which is volatile on a quarterly basis." They highlighted strong starts for newly launched Tagrisso and Lynparza, both beating expectations by 4% and 7%, respectively, while respiratory drugs missed due to continued pricing pressure and timing of government buying.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals slipped despite hailing an "encouraging start" to the year and reiterating its full-year guidance.

Rio Tinto fell after saying it had been given the green light to run driverless trains at its iron ore business in Western Australia, while homeware retailer Dunelm was in the red as it appointed Laura Carr - currently group financial controller of Compass Group - as its new chief financial officer.

John Laing Infrastructure ended the day flat even as it posted 1.8% growth in its underlying portfolio value for the three months to the end of March.

Just Group fell as private equity investor Permira ditched its entire holding in the retirement services company a day after it surged on the back of solid first-quarter sales figures.

Lloyds gave up slight early gains after announcing the sale of its Irish residential mortgage portfolio to Barclays for £4bn.

In small caps, Carpetright rallied after announcing plans for a £60m placing and open offer to fund additional costs associated with implementing its CVA, repay its £12.5m interim loan and fund the group's capex plans.

In broker note action, DS Smith was the standout gainer after it was lifted to 'outperform' at Davy, while Ocado was upgraded to 'hold' at HSBC a day after signing a deal with US grocery chain Kroger.

Smith & Nephew was hit by a downgrade to 'hold' at Commerzbank, but outsourcer Capita was higher after an upgrade to 'overweight' at JPMorgan.

888 was cut to 'neutral' by JPMorgan and Grainger was downgraded to 'equal-weight' at Barclays, while BTG was knocked down to 'hold' at Investec.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,778.79 -0.12%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,989.77 -0.14%
techMARK (TASX) 3,504.59 -0.42%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,600.00p 2.32%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 857.20p 2.10%
National Grid (NG.) 882.10p 2.08%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 554.60p 2.06%
CRH (CRH) 2,787.00p 1.94%
Relx plc (REL) 1,619.50p 1.41%
3i Group (III) 989.00p 1.29%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,591.00p 1.14%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,270.00p 1.11%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,363.00p 1.04%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Glencore (GLEN) 380.35p -4.40%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 5,241.00p -1.95%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 291.70p -1.88%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,480.00p -1.78%
Royal Mail (RMG) 545.60p -1.69%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 290.10p -1.49%
Old Mutual (OML) 246.00p -1.48%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 193.18p -1.46%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,860.00p -1.23%
Pearson (PSON) 910.00p -1.19%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Capita (CPI) 140.40p 6.53%
Greggs (GRG) 1,087.00p 3.92%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 2,690.00p 3.46%
Homeserve (HSV) 844.00p 2.68%
Diploma (DPLM) 1,258.00p 2.61%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,068.00p 2.30%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 275.90p 2.30%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 267.60p 2.21%
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 232.80p 1.88%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 346.60p 1.70%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 128.90p -7.33%
Rank Group (RNK) 161.60p -4.83%
Grainger (GRI) 311.20p -3.35%
Cobham (COB) 119.60p -3.20%
Contour Global (GLO) 244.00p -3.17%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 252.00p -3.14%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 600.00p -2.76%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 601.00p -2.56%
BTG (BTG) 615.00p -2.30%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 121.30p -2.26%