Sector movers: Pound giveth and taketh away
Automobiles, construction groups and aerospace were the big fallers on Wednesday, while domestic focused sectors were on the up.
Automobiles and industrial engineers were mostly in the red as old doubts returned about the US-China trade talks.
A number of larger London-listed stocks were on the slide, including British American Tobacco, Shell and Reckitt Benckiser, following a weak session on Wall Street last night where the major indices fell on the back of poor home sales data and talk that the US snubbed an offer from China to hold further trade talks.
European shares "took their cue from the US market and the deteriorating sentiment around global growth and trade. Tech and autos were hardest hit – the clear read across from the trade/China story affecting sentiment around these sectors . We note that the big US tech stocks were down 2-4% yesterday," said Neil Wilson, market analyst at Markets.com.
A rising pound was also providing a headwind to the many of those companies and others making a large proportion of earnings overseas.
Sterling was up 0.9% against the dollar to 1.3075 and 0.65% versus the euro to 1.1476 - hitting its best level since the first half of November against both currencies - amid hopes that a no-deal Brexit will be avoided.
David Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB, said: "Reports that the Labour party are set to back an amendment designed to eliminate the prospect of a no-deal Brexit has provided more good news for sterling bulls, and the market is back trading at its highest level since November."
The optimism about Brexit would also have lifted domestically focused sectors, including retailers and most housebuilders.
Domestically focused banks were mostly in the red, however, not helped by the trading update from Metro Bank that revealed that capital levels and full-year profit will be well below expectations.
The construction sector was down as Exane BNP Paribas took a look at the European building materials sector. Plumbing specialist Ferguson was under pressure afterwas downgraded to 'underperform' as it analysts highlighted worries about the slowing US home renovations market following the profit warning from Sherwin-Williams last week.
Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 4,338.69 +1.41%
Food & Drug Retailers 3,781.30 +1.29%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,778.20 +1.05%
Personal Goods 34,901.94 +0.62%
Real Estate Investment & Services 2,479.52 +0.60%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Automobiles & Parts 6,544.49 -2.79%
Household Goods & Home Construction 15,574.50 -2.18%
Industrial Engineering 10,881.30 -2.12%
Construction & Materials 5,184.45 -2.07%
Technology Hardware & Equipment 1,096.32 -1.97%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,844.88 -0.82%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,575.18 -0.57%
techMARK (TASX) 3,375.55 -0.35%
FTSE 100 - Risers
easyJet (EZJ) 1,273.50p 3.16%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,828.00p 2.93%
Evraz (EVR) 456.90p 2.08%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 631.40p 1.97%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 233.15p 1.77%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 457.20p 1.51%
Tesco (TSCO) 223.70p 1.50%
SEGRO (SGRO) 633.00p 1.22%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 925.80p 1.18%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 289.30p 1.08%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 317.30p -5.42%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,788.00p -4.00%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,700.00p -3.91%
Ferguson (FERG) 5,104.00p -3.77%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 164.15p -3.10%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,869.50p -3.03%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 669.50p -2.90%
Fresnillo (FRES) 888.00p -2.65%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,277.00p -2.46%
3i Group (III) 816.60p -2.46%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Computacenter (CCC) 1,126.00p 10.61%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 616.50p 6.29%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 1,603.40p 4.65%
RPC Group (RPC) 766.00p 4.36%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,818.00p 4.12%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 139.32p 3.97%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,947.00p 3.78%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 183.30p 3.27%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,490.00p 2.90%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 938.00p 2.85%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Metro Bank (MTRO) 1,340.00p -39.15%
Sanne Group (SNN) 450.00p -17.73%
Premier Oil (PMO) 68.52p -5.03%
G4S (GFS) 198.45p -4.36%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 19.95p -4.09%
Hunting (HTG) 526.50p -3.57%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 303.50p -3.53%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,387.50p -3.51%
Rotork (ROR) 267.50p -3.04%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 156.10p -2.98%