London close: Stocks little changed as investors mull prospect of new elections
London stocks finished the Wednesday session little changed as investors mulled the prospect of a general election before Christmas and sifted through updates from the likes of Next and Standard Chartered.
The FTSE 100 was up by 0.34% to 7,330.78 and the second-tier index 0.26% lower to 20,115.10, while the pound was little changed versus either the US dollar or the pound.
IG chief market analyst, Chris Beauchamp, said: "In the UK investors are preparing themselves for the election with a sense of resignation, painfully aware that the country confronts a choice of an anti-business Labour party, bent on nationalisation, or a Conservative party determined to pursue a hard Brexit. Such uncertainty could well see the FTSE 100 lag behind in any year-end rally."
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam meanwhile said: "Conservatives remain favourite to take a majority which would probably be the most market friendly outcome, even if it does basically kill any hope of a second referendum."
Away from Brexit, the focus will shift across the pond, with Fed fund futures pricing in a 95% chance of a 25 basis points rate cut when the Federal Reserve announces its latest policy decision at 1800 GMT.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "While Jay Powell will of course leave the door open to further cuts, there’s a sense this should be the last cut this year.
"The FOMC is already divided on cuts, putting pressure on the dovish core to justify why more are needed, and although there has been some softening in the economic data since the last meeting, it’s by no means all bad and the immediate market-based pressure to cut has subsided."
In equity markets, defensive names including Reckitt Benckiser, Astra Zeneca and GlaxoSmithKline paced gains on the top-flight index, with the latter higher on the back of better-than-expected third quarter profits and after management raised its guidance for full-year earnings per share.
Standard Chartered was also sitting pretty near the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard after the lender reported a 16% jump in third-quarter pre-tax profit despite a challenging environment. For the three months to 30 September, underlying pre-tax profit rose to $1.2bn from $1.1bn in the third quarter of last year, while statutory pre-tax profit was up 4% to $1.1bn. Analysts had been expecting underlying pre-tax profit of $1bn.
Shares of Next on the other hand moved lower after the retailer posted a rise in third-quarter full price sales and backed its guidance for 2020 but sounded a cautious note over its immediate outlook and reported a 6.3% decline in retail sales. The stock was also hit by a downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' at Liberum, which said the valuation was now up with events.
On the FTSE 250 meanwhile, ConvaTec and Computacenter racked up strong gains on the back of well-received trading updates.
Stock in ConvaTec surged after it said trading was in line with management expectations following growth at each of its business units, with full-year guidance remaining unchanged.
Computacenter climbed after it reported that both revenue and profit in the third quarter remain "well ahead" of its 2018 year-to-date performance as the drive to digitalise helps to offset "challenging" economic conditions.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,330.78 0.34%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,115.10 -0.26%
techMARK (TASX) 3,942.61 1.07%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,034.00p 3.38%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 713.40p 2.65%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 7,575.70p 2.55%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,328.00p 2.54%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,782.00p 2.43%
Diageo (DGE) 3,178.00p 2.33%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,598.00p 2.20%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,786.00p 2.12%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 7,965.00p 1.92%
Relx plc (REL) 1,876.50p 1.90%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
NMC Health (NMC) 2,183.00p -7.93%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,011.00p -4.84%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 881.80p -3.50%
Kingfisher (KGF) 205.40p -3.34%
Next (NXT) 6,654.00p -2.86%
Carnival (CCL) 3,137.00p -2.73%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,324.00p -2.54%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 213.70p -2.51%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,998.00p -2.47%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 205.70p -2.42%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Convatec Group (CTEC) 202.80p 10.79%
Computacenter (CCC) 1,375.00p 9.04%
Future (FUTR) 1,358.00p 5.27%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 64.20p 2.64%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,192.00p 2.58%
Renishaw (RSW) 3,800.00p 1.99%
Rank Group (RNK) 246.50p 1.86%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 2,638.00p 1.77%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 199.10p 1.69%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 431.00p 1.63%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 445.00p -6.90%
Hammerson (HMSO) 290.50p -4.69%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 333.70p -3.78%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 180.30p -3.74%
Inchcape (INCH) 653.00p -3.69%
Essentra (ESNT) 392.00p -3.21%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 175.10p -3.05%
Hunting (HTG) 404.20p -2.84%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 123.50p -2.76%
WH Smith (SMWH) 2,170.00p -2.69%