FTSE 100 movers: Banks under the cosh; Ocado rises
London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 6,557.67 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Banks were under the cosh amid worries about Brexit, with NatWest, Lloyds and Barclays all weaker.
NatWest was also hit by a downgrade to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan.
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley said in an equity strategy note that UK domestic banks could fall by as much as 20% in the event of a no-deal Brexit. MS said banks would be likely to lead UK equities lower initially given their high correlation to sterling and UK risk premia in general.
"Fears of a subsequent move to negative interest rates could provide a further hit to sentiment," it added.
Engine maker Rolls-Royce was on the back foot despite saying it expected to turn cash flow positive in the second half of 2021 as air travel demand started to recover from the Covid-19 crisis driven by vaccination programmes. The company maintained full-year guidance, adding it was targeting target at least £750m in free cash flow, excluding disposals, as early as 2022 and at least £2bn from disposal proceeds.
Just Eat Takeaway and online supermarket Ocado - both of which have benefited from Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns - were on the rise.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,535.00p 2.58%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,811.00p 1.66%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 7,970.00p 1.61%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,481.00p 1.23%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,836.00p 1.09%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,178.00p 0.88%
Avast (AVST) 491.60p 0.86%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,362.00p 0.82%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,095.50p 0.78%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,438.00p 0.74%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 118.20p -6.93%
NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 151.50p -5.96%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 34.24p -3.99%
Barclays (BARC) 137.16p -3.24%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,420.00p -3.01%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 763.20p -2.93%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 218.90p -2.80%
British Land Company (BLND) 479.00p -2.74%
Next (NXT) 6,470.00p -2.71%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 158.40p -2.40%