London open: Stocks fall amid US slowdown concerns; Dr Martens tumbles

London stocks fell in early trade on Thursday following heavy losses on Wall Street, amid concerns about a US slowdown.

At 0845 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.5% at 7,790.83.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "US Recession fears are resurfacing as Federal Reserve policymakers flagged that more rate rises are ahead, even though inflation is coming down from dizzying heights and slowing activity is taking a toll on big companies.

"US manufacturing output dropped in December and retail sales are now on the slide, falling at the sharpest rate in a year. Remarks from Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester crushed hopes that the hiking cycle may be shorter, with officials still largely indicating that rates are set to rise to 5.00%-5.25% in the months to come. Risks of a harder landing for the US economy are rising and big tech is bracing for impact."

In UK equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were among the worst performers as copper prices fell, with Antofagasta, Glencore and Anglo American all down, while oil giants BP and Shell gushed lower as crude prices retreated.

Elsewhere, Dr Martens tumbled as the iconic bootmaker warned on full-year profits, saying it had been hit by operational issues at its Los Angeles distribution centre and weaker trading in the US direct-to-consumer segment.

Investment platform AJ Bell was also in the red even as it posted a rise in customer numbers and assets under management, as the shares traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Homewares retailer Dunelm fell despite saying that annual profits were set to be above expectations as consumers sought value for money amid the cost-of-living crisis.

On the upside, Auto Trader was the standout gainer on the FTSE 100 after an upgrade to 'buy' at Goldman Sachs. WPP was also lifted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Goldman, while DCC rose following an initiation at 'buy' by Numis.

Informa rallied after the academic publisher and events specialist said full-year numbers were set to come in ahead of expectations, following strong performances across the business.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,790.83 -0.51%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,782.57 -0.54%
techMARK (TASX) 4,500.24 -0.02%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 583.00p 2.86%
Informa (INF) 670.40p 1.58%
Diageo (DGE) 3,708.50p 1.12%
WPP (WPP) 927.20p 1.09%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,100.50p 0.98%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,884.00p 0.86%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,043.00p 0.79%
SSE (SSE) 1,720.50p 0.73%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,260.50p 0.64%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,760.00p 0.62%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 913.40p -3.02%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,747.00p -2.92%
Glencore (GLEN) 562.60p -2.43%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 744.00p -2.34%
BP (BP.) 475.40p -2.22%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,595.00p -2.11%
Barclays (BARC) 178.56p -1.94%
Shell (SHEL) 2,357.00p -1.93%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,895.50p -1.40%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 456.00p -1.19%

FTSE 250 - Risers

NCC Group (NCC) 194.80p 4.06%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 116.60p 2.82%
Balanced Commercial Property Trust Limited (BCPT) 91.00p 2.25%
Keller Group (KLR) 770.00p 2.12%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 240.00p 1.91%
Workspace Group (WKP) 501.00p 1.46%
JPMorgan Emerging Markets Inv Trust (JMG) 117.80p 1.38%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 743.00p 1.36%
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited NPV (SONG) 87.00p 1.16%
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 474.00p 0.85%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Dr. Martens (DOCS) 170.70p -18.40%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 109.90p -4.93%
AJ Bell (AJB) 352.00p -4.92%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 302.00p -4.55%
ASOS (ASC) 729.00p -4.14%
Energean (ENOG) 1,305.00p -3.19%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 37.92p -2.87%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 80.15p -2.67%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 157.80p -2.59%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 9,105.00p -2.57%