Sector movers: US worries drag on construction & materials
Retailers and housebuilders were both higher on Tuesday, but were outperformed by food producers.
Food producers were led by Hilton Foods, a day ahead of its results.
Inflation in Feb continued upward trend in Europe, JPMorgan Cazenove noted in its food retail macro indicators report. Key highlights included UK food inflation unchanged at circa 1% combined, with France, Spain, Germany, Poland and Russia continuing to accelerate. US food inflation picked up by 60 basis points to 1.2% and in Brazil continued to pick up too.
The general retails was swathed in green, which in recent months has been a reflection of the market's optimism about the Brexit process.
While the housebuilding sector, another 'soft Brexit' friendly sector, was mostly higher, construction and materials were among the sectors in the red.
The cause was plumbing and heating products distributor Ferguson as it said trading profit for the full year will be towards the lower end of analysts' expectations due to slowing end markets.
Worries about the economic health of its largest market, the USA, also dragged quipment rental firm Ashtead and building materials group CRH, which like Ferguson have plenty of exposure to US construction markets, into the red too.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said Ferguson's warning about a slowdown in second-half sales growth had raised questions about the US market and "really spooked investors".
"The only logical conclusion here is that the US is now seeing a slackening in growth too, since America represents some 80% of group sales and 90% of profits. This also explains why Ashtead’s shares are weaker today since the equipment rental specialist also generates around 90% of its profits the USA via its Sunbelt operations."
Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 5,700.63 +1.94%
Food Producers & Processors 7,261.02 +1.81%
Leisure Goods 7,108.40 +1.79%
General Retailers 2,237.49 +1.39%
Beverages 24,877.63 +1.30%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
General Industrials 5,357.60 -1.39%
Construction & Materials 5,467.40 -1.16%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 7,057.59 -0.61%
Banks 3,712.82 -0.55%
Forestry & Paper 18,732.48 -0.48%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,204.31 0.37%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,917.30 0.63%
techMARK (TASX) 3,494.79 0.47%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,307.00p 4.10%
Just Eat (JE.) 752.40p 3.64%
Fresnillo (FRES) 872.20p 2.61%
Evraz (EVR) 610.20p 2.59%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,369.00p 2.38%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,745.50p 2.29%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,884.50p 2.17%
Next (NXT) 5,490.00p 2.12%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 5,920.00p 2.07%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,997.20p 2.05%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Carnival (CCL) 3,809.00p -8.24%
Ferguson (FERG) 4,800.50p -7.15%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,123.50p -2.73%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,104.00p -2.41%
CRH (CRH) 2,289.00p -1.97%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 511.60p -1.80%
Tesco (TSCO) 228.80p -1.72%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 325.60p -1.36%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,386.00p -1.14%
Barclays (BARC) 153.78p -1.13%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Clarkson (CKN) 2,385.00p 7.92%
Sanne Group (SNN) 541.00p 5.66%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 371.80p 5.33%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 140.65p 5.04%
Premier Oil (PMO) 90.77p 4.75%
Funding Circle Holdings (FCH) 396.35p 3.87%
Contour Global (GLO) 174.80p 3.74%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 241.87p 3.67%
Jupiter European Opportunities Trust (JEO) 733.00p 3.53%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 162.00p 3.45%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Computacenter (CCC) 1,074.80p -3.86%
Just Group (JUST) 64.38p -3.54%
Spectris (SXS) 2,520.00p -2.70%
Ted Baker (TED) 1,568.00p -2.67%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 158.00p -2.47%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 670.00p -2.33%
IP Group (IPO) 88.50p -2.21%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 112.90p -2.17%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 300.00p -2.09%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 199.80p -1.77%