London midday: Stocks pare gains; CC Capital says it's not bidding for IWG
London stocks had pared gains by midday on Tuesday to trade just a little higher, as US private equity firm CC Capital said it was not planning to make an offer for office space provider IWG.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 7,086.99.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "Early gains for the FTSE 100 and other European markets have been walked back, and with month- and quarter-end looming the hunt is on for reasons to cut back on risk.
"Added to that we have the payrolls report on Friday and a long weekend in the US next Monday, so it feels like June has already been declared over by a significant majority of traders."
In equity markets, IWG was well off earlier highs after US private equity firm CC Capital said it was not planning to make a bid for the company. CC was responding to a Sky News report that IWG had held talks with the PE firm in the last month about a possible £4bn takeover.
Elsewhere, housebuilders were also off earlier highs after a survey from Nationwide showed that house prices rose at their fastest rate since 2004 in June as buyers competed fiercely in a market rebounding from Covid-19 lockdowns.
The average price of a property in the UK rose 13.4% in June from a year earlier to a record £242,709, Britain's biggest building society said. In the quarter to the end of June prices rose 10.3%, up from 6.3% in the first quarter of 2021.
June's rate of growth was boosted by the shutdown of the property market a year earlier during the first Covid-19 lockdown but prices also rose sharply because of a buying frenzy.
UDG Healthcare ticked up just a touch after US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice confirmed its increased final £2.7bn offer for the Dublin-based company.
Shipping services group Clarkson rallied after an initiation at ‘buy’ by Peel Hunt.
On the downside, travel-related stocks were under the cosh again amid worries about restrictions, with InterContinental Hotels, Tui, Wizz, British Airways owner IAG and WH Smith all weaker.
United Utilities was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘underweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,086.99 0.20%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,566.89 0.15%
techMARK (TASX) 4,467.03 0.31%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Kingfisher (KGF) 369.40p 2.04%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,749.00p 1.98%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,984.00p 1.67%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 264.30p 1.38%
Ferguson (FERG) 10,105.00p 1.35%
Evraz (EVR) 607.40p 1.33%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,463.00p 1.19%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,888.50p 1.18%
Barclays (BARC) 173.52p 1.17%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,620.00p 0.96%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,579.00p -2.23%
Fresnillo (FRES) 786.80p -1.77%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 981.40p -1.62%
BT Group (BT.A) 197.45p -1.20%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,780.00p -1.01%
Pearson (PSON) 825.00p -1.01%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 412.80p -0.94%
Entain (ENT) 1,762.00p -0.87%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 174.90p -0.85%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 276.50p -0.82%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 1,820.00p 4.00%
Clarkson (CKN) 3,220.00p 2.88%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 280.00p 2.71%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,390.00p 2.58%
Elementis (ELM) 152.00p 2.56%
Serco Group (SRP) 135.70p 2.42%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 543.00p 2.41%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 11,640.00p 2.37%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 438.40p 2.14%
Just Group (JUST) 94.95p 2.04%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 365.90p -4.74%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 575.50p -2.87%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 154.80p -2.58%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 150.00p -1.96%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 431.00p -1.73%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 102.30p -1.73%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 4,671.00p -1.56%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 944.50p -1.51%
888 Holdings (888) 380.20p -1.50%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,645.00p -1.38%