London close: Stocks dip on final day of 2021 but FTSE gains 14% YTD
London stocks dipped on the final day of 2021 but were higher overall for the year, as investors continued to mull the impact of the Omicron Covid variant.
The FTSE 100 closed down 0.25% at 7,384.54. Nevertheless, that left the top-flight index just over 14% higher year-to-date - its best yearly performance since 2016.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said "After playing catch-up with US markets earlier in the week, the FTSE 100 has edged lower in recent sessions. Indices generally have struggled for direction as the year winds down, but will benefit from Chinese PMIs and the monthly US job numbers next week, providing some clues on the health of the global economy. Santa did indeed arrive for markets over the festive period, with equities rallying in the week between Christmas and New Year.
"As we look ahead into 2022, the questions around inflation, growth and the return of the pandemic remain with us, while the monetary policy outlook is clouded by the potential for more rate hikes throughout the coming months. Overall it still seems sensible to expect further gains for stocks, but with perhaps less of the exuberance we saw in 2021."
Unsurprisingly, there was no corporate news to speak of.
Electrocomponents and National Grid were the worst performers on the FTSE 100, while Watches of Switzerland was the biggest faller on the 250.
GKN owner Melrose and precious metals miner Fresnillo were the standout gainers on the top-flight index, closely followed by pest control firm Rentokil.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,384.54 -0.25%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,480.81 -0.25%
techMARK (TASX) 4,579.18 -0.04%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Melrose Industries (MRO) 159.90p 2.34%
Fresnillo (FRES) 892.80p 1.71%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 584.00p 1.35%
Pearson (PSON) 613.20p 1.29%
BT Group (BT.A) 169.55p 0.92%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,311.50p 0.85%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 5,325.00p 0.76%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,436.50p 0.67%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 740.00p 0.65%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,651.00p 0.58%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Electrocomponents (ECM) 1,206.00p -2.27%
National Grid (NG.) 1,059.80p -1.78%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,885.00p -1.77%
Royal Mail (RMG) 506.00p -1.75%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 383.80p -1.54%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,015.00p -1.31%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 47.80p -1.13%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,942.00p -1.10%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,555.00p -1.05%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,775.00p -1.02%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 250.00p 8.23%
Essentra (ESNT) 345.00p 4.55%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 1,353.00p 3.96%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 247.00p 3.35%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,670.00p 3.09%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 255.00p 3.03%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 2,200.00p 2.80%
Just Group (JUST) 83.60p 2.77%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 263.50p 2.73%
Reach (RCH) 282.50p 2.73%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 1,420.00p -4.83%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,554.50p -3.54%
Carnival (CCL) 1,383.60p -3.38%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 633.50p -2.99%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 5,100.00p -2.86%
SSP Group (SSPG) 240.10p -2.48%
Greggs (GRG) 3,337.00p -2.31%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 177.80p -2.31%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 292.00p -2.18%
JTC (JTC) 916.00p -2.14%