Sector movers: Risk off day as global growth worries weigh
All of London's sectors were in the red on Friday, led by oil-related stocks and industrial engineers.
Global stocks were almost all lower in the wake of dreadful German and US manufacturing data, alongside a market gauge that that has traditionally held a very strong relationship as a lead indicator of recession.
"An inversion of the three-month/ten-year yield curve has been taken as a sign that a recession may be on the horizon, although not upon us yet," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.
Combined with the US and German numbers, he said this was enough to spark another substantial move to the downside.
"Yield curve inversion is not necessarily an immediate harbinger of doom, but it will signal that growth concerns are on the rise. In another worrying turn, German ten-year bunds have seen their yields turn negative, as investors pile into bonds as a safe haven. It has been a whipsaw week for equities, which is an indication of how conflicted investors are at present."
Global growth concerns have hit mining stocks, although Beauchamp said the strength of the sector's shares of late suggests this is also likely to be investors taking some profits.
The oil services sector was the biggest faller, as crude prices hit a four month high but then retreated to a month's low, with Brent and WTI both down more than 2% to $66.41 and $58.47 respectively.
"Oil is the red as traders took some money off the table in light of the disappointing manufacturing numbers from France, Germany and the US," said market analyst David Madden at CMC Markets.
"Multi-month highs were reached this week so the poor economic updates were a good excuse for traders to trim their positions ahead of the weekend."
Food and drug retailers and general retailers were two of the least damaged sectors. Supermarket Sainsbury's was in the news at its concessions to sell off up to 150 of its and Asda's stores was made public by the competition watchdog as the pair try to gain approval for their £12bn merger. Morrison and Tesco were even higher.
Next was also one of the top risers, as its shares continued to bounce back after their results on Thursday.
Best performing sectors so far today
Food & Drug Retailers -0.23%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment -0.24%
General Retailers -0.40%
Gas Water & Multiutilities -0.66%
Software & Computer Services -0.73%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution -4.14%
Forestry & Paper -3.38%
Industrial Engineering -3.07%
Life Insurance -2.95%
Construction & Materials -2.92%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,211.81 -1.95%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,024.37 -1.67%
techMARK (TASX) 3,524.23 -1.39%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Pearson (PSON) 849.60p 1.72%
Next (NXT) 5,378.00p 1.17%
Halma (HLMA) 1,689.00p 1.14%
Kingfisher (KGF) 228.90p 1.02%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 225.65p 0.42%
Tesco (TSCO) 233.65p 0.19%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 236.88p 0.12%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 510.60p 0.12%
National Grid (NG.) 885.20p -0.14%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 584.00p -0.14%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
NMC Health (NMC) 2,448.00p -5.12%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 576.20p -4.98%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,186.00p -4.37%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 180.50p -3.99%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,861.00p -3.90%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 941.60p -3.64%
Aviva (AV.) 409.40p -3.56%
BAE Systems (BA.) 469.60p -3.49%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 344.80p -3.47%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,715.00p -3.41%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Sanne Group (SNN) 521.00p 3.37%
Ted Baker (TED) 1,654.00p 3.31%
Just Group (JUST) 70.80p 3.06%
Aggreko (AGK) 794.60p 2.50%
Rank Group (RNK) 163.80p 1.36%
Greene King (GNK) 676.06p 1.21%
Indivior (INDV) 107.94p 0.78%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 650.00p 0.78%
Intu Properties (INTU) 105.25p 0.67%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 186.50p 0.65%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 256.09p -5.36%
Premier Oil (PMO) 89.56p -5.13%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 162.55p -5.05%
Hunting (HTG) 592.50p -5.05%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,586.00p -4.60%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 117.80p -4.54%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 545.60p -4.52%
IP Group (IPO) 91.90p -4.47%
Investec (INVP) 438.30p -4.38%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 245.70p -4.29%