London open: Stocks slump ahead of manufacturing data
London stocks fell in early trade on Friday, with miners pacing the decline as investors eyed the latest reading on the UK manufacturing sector.
At 0820 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 2.2% at 5,772.80, with most European markets closed for May Day. On Thursday, the top-flight index suffered its worst daily decline in a month.
Sentiment took a hit after uninspiring updates from Apple and Amazon overnight. Apple’s fiscal second-quarter sales and profit beat expectations but the iPhone maker said it was unable to issue guidance for the coming quarter due to a lack of visibility. Meanwhile, Amazon warned that coronavirus costs could lead to an operating loss in the second quarter.
On home shores, market participants were looking to the release of Markit’s manufacturing PMI for April at 0930 BST.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "After yesterday’s raft of disappointing economic numbers from Europe and the US, attention is set to turn back to the UK economy, with the final manufacturing PMI for April, which is expected to come in at 32.8.
"We’ll also be getting a look at the latest mortgage approvals, consumer credit and lending numbers for March. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see a significant drop off in all of these numbers, given the news flow that we saw in the lead up to the lockdown being announced.
"Mortgage approvals are expected to fall to 58k from 73.5k, which net consumer credit is expected to fall back slightly to £0.7bn."
On the corporate front, miners were the worst performers, with BHP, Glencore and Anglo American all sharply lower.
International Airlines Group flew lower as it said its Iberia and Vueling airlines had agreed to borrow just over €1bn (£880m) from banks with backing from the Spanish government to support them during the Covid-19 crisis.
Housebuilder Barratt Developments lost ground after saying it would resume housebuilding on half its sites on May 11, but those in Scotland would remain shut for the time being.
Lloyds was also trading down as it said chief operating officer Juan Colombás has agreed to delay his retirement to help the bank deal with the fallout of the coronavirus crisis.
Going the other way, Royal Bank of Scotland was the standout gainer even after it said that first-quarter profit almost halved as the state-backed lender set aside £802m for bad debts fuelled by the Covid-19 crisis. Operating profit before tax for the three months to the end of March fell to £519m from £1.01bn a year earlier. Revenue rose to £3.16bn from £3.03bn.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 5,772.80 -2.18%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,255.26 -1.21%
techMARK (TASX) 3,528.30 -1.37%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 114.65p 3.71%
Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) 9,900.00p 1.54%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 410.50p 0.74%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 8,088.00p 0.00%
CRH (CRH) 2,400.00p 0.00%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,410.00p 0.00%
Informa (INF) 437.90p -0.30%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 182.10p -0.49%
Sage Group (SGE) 636.80p -0.50%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 7,418.00p -0.51%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
BHP Group (BHP) 1,259.80p -5.72%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,259.40p -4.95%
easyJet (EZJ) 574.20p -4.81%
Glencore (GLEN) 140.40p -4.55%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,352.40p -4.44%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,229.40p -4.43%
Carnival (CCL) 1,052.00p -3.97%
WPP (WPP) 596.80p -3.93%
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 577.80p -3.86%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,962.00p -3.85%
FTSE 250 - Risers
IP Group (IPO) 58.90p 6.13%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 432.40p 4.19%
Forterra (FORT) 247.00p 2.49%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 261.80p 1.95%
IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 505.00p 1.92%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 320.60p 0.94%
Bellway (BWY) 2,687.00p 0.90%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 198.60p 0.86%
HICL Infrastructure (HICL) 166.00p 0.73%
BMO Commercial Property Trust Limited (BCPT) 76.80p 0.66%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Ninety One (N91) 156.30p -7.90%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 453.20p -5.92%
Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 314.40p -5.76%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 393.30p -5.14%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 132.20p -5.10%
Capita (CPI) 37.01p -5.05%
Elementis (ELM) 66.80p -4.57%
Trainline (TRN) 362.40p -4.48%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 62.54p -4.46%
Marston's (MARS) 36.14p -4.29%