London midday: Stocks fall further amid recession, Covid woes
London stocks had fallen further into the red by midday on Thursday as markets were gripped by worries about a second wave of coronavirus infections and a global recession.
The FTSE 100 was down 2.4% at 5,761.71.
London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler said: "A warning from the top of the US central bank that there’s more pain to come isn’t going down well across markets. Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned yesterday that more stimulus will likely be needed in the US to fend off the economic damage done by virus and policies aimed at containing it.
"Powell’s warning comes on top of early signs of a second wave of new virus cases. Investors will be watching with interest the ability of authorities in South Korea to ‘track and trace’ attendees of night club that started a new cluster of cases. Likewise Germany’s infection R-rate that below back below 1.0 yesterday."
In equity markets, housebuilders were under pressure after the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said house prices could take a year to get back to pre-coronavirus levels. Barratt Developments, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey were all lower.
Persimmon retreated even as it said it would re-open sales offices in England on Friday as the UK government eased coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Prudential was the standout loser on the top-flight index after it posted a 24% decline in first-quarter Asia sales.
Stagecoach was under the cosh after a downgrade to ‘sell’ from ‘buy’ at Citi, which cut price targets across the peer group as it pointed to an expected shift in consumer preference away from public transport. National Express, Go-Ahead and FirstGroup were also sharply lower.
Housebuilder and regeneration partner Countryside Properties lost ground after it reported a fall in half-year profit and revenue as it pointed to completions and land sales in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On the upside, private equity giant 3i was the standout gainer as it reported a full year total return of £253m, down from £1.25bn as net asset value fell to a better-than-expected 804p a share from 815p. The company also committed to an annual dividend of 35p a share.
Hargreaves Lansdown gained after saying it was sticking with its dividend policy as the investment platform reported £4bn of net new business for the four months to the end of April.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 5,761.71 -2.41%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 15,403.94 -2.99%
techMARK (TASX) 3,556.19 -2.20%
FTSE 100 - Risers
3i Group (III) 784.60p 4.64%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,652.50p 3.80%
Centrica (CNA) 35.85p 2.19%
Meggitt (MGGT) 236.50p 1.98%
ITV (ITV) 69.16p 0.93%
Next (NXT) 4,586.00p -0.07%
Carnival (CCL) 835.40p -0.33%
WPP (WPP) 548.20p -0.36%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 83.02p -0.69%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 387.10p -0.72%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Prudential (PRU) 1,023.50p -6.19%
M&G (MNG) 112.35p -5.79%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 164.00p -5.58%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,036.00p -5.35%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 515.80p -5.25%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,091.50p -4.76%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,205.80p -4.71%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,955.00p -4.70%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,167.80p -4.54%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 185.55p -4.48%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 66.80p 2.45%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 68.10p 2.41%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 88.32p 2.34%
Grainger (GRI) 249.60p 1.79%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 224.00p 1.59%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 355.20p 1.49%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 208.40p 0.97%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 355.20p 0.51%
Gamesys Group (GYS) 799.00p 0.50%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 205.00p 0.00%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Countryside Properties (CSP) 307.20p -16.84%
Greencore Group (GNC) 144.90p -13.85%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 51.05p -13.33%
FirstGroup (FGP) 47.56p -12.33%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 28.96p -9.39%
National Express Group (NEX) 182.40p -9.07%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 803.00p -8.96%
Fidelity Special Values (FSV) 156.40p -7.35%
Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 1,186.00p -7.34%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 699.00p -6.92%