London midday: Stocks surge on Covid-19 vaccine news

London stocks shot higher on Monday following positive news on the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, as investors cheered Democrat Joe Biden’s US presidential election win.

At 1215 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 4.3% at 6,162.76, having surged on news that the vaccine was shown to have prevented more than 90% of infections in a study of tens of thousands of volunteers. The findings are based on an interim analysis conducted after 94 participants contracted the virus.

Pfizer senior vice president William Gruber said: "This is about the best the news could possibly be for the world and for the United States and for public health."

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "I won’t lay with lots of comment about the trials as I am no vaccine expert, all I can say is this is a good news day. Whilst we are not there yet, news that this vaccine could be highly effective is the best thing markets could hope for. Public health officials will remind us there is a long road ahead, and many challenges will be faced along the way, but there is an enormous sense of optimism today - light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s just hope the vaccine deniers won’t get in the way, but 2021 just got a lot brighter."

Also helping to underpin sentiment was Joe Biden’s win in the US presidential election.

Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG, said: "Joe Biden may still have a host of law-suits from Trump to contend with, yet the risk-on sentiment we are seeing throughout markets highlights a confidence within the trading community that these legal challenges are nothing more than a bid to save face."

In equity markets, stocks most exposed to the Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions - namely those in the travel and leisure sectors - flew higher. Caterer Compass Group, British Airways parent IAG, engine maker Rolls-Royce, Primark owner AB Foods, Premier Inn owner Whitbread, InterContinental Hotels, GKN owner Melrose, Tui, easyJet, Carnival, Cineworld and Wizz Air all rose sharply.

Taylor Wimpey rallied as the housebuilder said full-year results would be at the upper end of expectations after better-than-expecting trading in the second half. Other housebuilders followed suit, with Barratt Developments, Persimmon, Berkeley, Vistry, Redrow and Bellway all higher.

JD Sports also racked up solid gains after an initiation at ‘overweight’ by JPMorgan Cazenove, while Royal Mail was boosted as Citi upped its price target on the stock.

On the downside, online supermarket Ocado - which has benefited from Covid-related lockdowns - slumped, while UDG Healthcare was knocked lower by a downgrade at Jefferies.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,162.76 4.28%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,617.33 3.90%
techMARK (TASX) 3,843.49 2.88%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Compass Group (CPG) 1,600.00p 41.97%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 127.55p 23.12%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 85.20p 22.48%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 147.20p 19.38%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,749.00p 18.08%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,939.50p 16.17%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,804.00p 14.90%
Informa (INF) 522.40p 14.39%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 140.10p 10.58%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 595.00p 9.90%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,412.00p -6.51%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 8,920.00p -3.21%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,846.00p -1.99%
Avast (AVST) 487.80p -1.57%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,291.00p -1.45%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,044.00p -0.93%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 530.00p -0.86%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,618.00p 0.19%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 582.20p 0.21%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,496.00p 0.28%

FTSE 250 - Risers

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 414.60p 29.56%
easyJet (EZJ) 666.00p 25.05%
Carnival (CCL) 1,092.00p 22.50%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 4,360.00p 19.06%
SSP Group (SSPG) 217.60p 16.55%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 33.48p 16.17%
Vistry Group (VTY) 699.50p 14.11%
Meggitt (MGGT) 330.70p 13.02%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,158.00p 12.54%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 182.00p 12.48%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 252.20p -6.73%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 768.00p -4.24%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 8,920.00p -3.21%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 717.50p -2.58%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 129.40p -1.11%
AO World (AO.) 394.00p -0.63%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 2,046.00p -0.49%
Contour Global (GLO) 192.20p -0.41%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 810.00p -0.37%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 249.80p -0.08%