Sector movers: Banks bounce, personal goods decline
Banks were among the big risers on Thursday, while the personal goods and tobacco sectors were leading the declines.
As US Treasury yields rose to levels not seen since 2011, with UK gilt yields also higher, this lifted demand for banks. Shares in Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS were all higher.
"An environment of rising yields helps banks as it increases their chances of making more money on loans," explained David Madden at CMC Markets. "It appears the rising yields in the US have dragged the UK yields higher too, and uncertainty surrounding Brexit could weigh on UK gilts."
The personal goods sector was taking it personally on Thursday, with Ted Baker and Burberry leading the declines.
Burberry was among a cohort of European luxury goods makers that were hit by concerns over a slowdown in China. Burberry has a major exposure to China.
Analysts at Bryan Garnier were confident about the sector but said "some slowdown" was likely in coming quarters.
"We expect further solid momentum in the luxury sector in coming years, driven by the increasing size of the middle class and affluent clienteles in China, the appetite of millennials for luxury brands, especially in Asia and China and the strong potential of e-commerce in a more digital world," the broker wrote in a note to clients.
"Some slowdown is nevertheless likely in coming quarters given challenging comparison bases and uncertainty in China, even though companies have noted no sudden break in the trend in recent months."
Ted Baker's interim results disappointed as it reported a 3.2% decline in pre-tax profit to £24.5m as the fashion retailer incurred exceptional costs of £600,000 related to debtor balances owed by House of Fraser which are no longer expected to be recovered after the department store entered administration in August.
In addition, the fashion designer said its performance was hit by unseasonable weather across the UK and Europe and North America. Retail sales including e-commerce were up just 1.1% to £220.1m, while the gross margin fell 140 basis points to 64.2%.
Shares in peer Superdry fell as investor read-across to similar seeming brands. Burberry Unilever was lower
Tobacco stocks were down, with doubts still swirling around US health authorities investigating the e-cigarette markets.
Juul Labs, the US e-cigarette maker that supplies nearly three quarters of that country's market, filed a patent infringement complaint in the US and Europe against 18 companies that it said were copying its products.
Liberum analysts felt a ban on Juul lookalikes would further strengthen the position of Juul and other companies in the e-cigarette space, which include London-listed British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands. The broker said the US e-cigarette market is "largely grey" and the makers of knock-off products compete for share of the wallet.
Knocking BAT more was the fact that its shares had gone ex-dividend.
Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 5,382.41 +1.12%
Banks 4,036.34 +1.08%
Mining 18,025.65 +0.71%
Life Insurance 8,227.87 +0.70%
Insurance (non-life) 3,256.03 +0.44%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Tobacco 38,953.06 -3.44%
Personal Goods 36,002.64 -3.11%
Electricity 6,816.59 -3.00%
Industrial Transportation 2,817.11 -2.91%
Household Goods & Home Construction 17,065.76 -2.80%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,445.67 -0.86%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,148.77 -0.74%
techMARK (TASX) 3,489.26 -0.77%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Barclays (BARC) 175.42p 1.68%
Glencore (GLEN) 338.00p 1.33%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 259.87p 1.31%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 251.40p 1.29%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 586.60p 1.17%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 676.40p 1.09%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 58.99p 1.03%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 324.70p 0.96%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,706.20p 0.84%
DCC (DCC) 6,960.00p 0.72%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 865.40p -5.42%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,918.50p -5.40%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,787.00p -4.64%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 470.00p -4.35%
British Land Company (BLND) 581.80p -4.34%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,858.00p -4.15%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,769.00p -3.99%
Relx plc (REL) 1,560.50p -3.85%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,438.50p -3.68%
SEGRO (SGRO) 620.20p -3.18%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 226.20p 7.92%
Just Group (JUST) 80.80p 7.88%
BTG (BTG) 588.50p 5.18%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 246.00p 4.68%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 384.00p 4.04%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 744.60p 3.62%
AA (AA.) 97.60p 3.26%
Greencore Group (GNC) 197.90p 2.91%
CYBG (CYBG) 317.80p 2.65%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 1,730.00p 2.26%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Ted Baker (TED) 2,098.00p -9.10%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 288.00p -6.13%
Hays (HAS) 192.20p -5.88%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 138.80p -5.45%
Pennon Group (PNN) 688.80p -3.56%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 292.00p -3.47%
Hammerson (HMSO) 440.00p -3.42%
Superdry (SDRY) 1,026.00p -3.39%
Inchcape (INCH) 644.50p -3.37%
Genus (GNS) 2,386.00p -3.32%