London equity markets had moved into the red by midday on Thursday as investors eyed the latest policy announcement from the European Central Bank, with ex-dividend stocks proving to be a drag.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 6,701.42 as market participants digested news that Congress has backed a $1.9trn US stimulus package.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “Stimulus cheques are coming and there is a realisation that a lot of this cash will go straight into stocks, as well as being spent on goods and things that drive company earnings.”
The top-flight index was unable to hold on to early gains, however, with HSBC, Persimmon and Evraz weighing as their stocks traded without entitlement to the dividend.
Elsewhere, Aviva and IWG were both lower after downgrades to ‘hold’ at Jefferies and Berenberg, respectively.
On the upside, Rolls-Royce advanced after the engine maker said it expected to turn cash flow positive in the second half of 2021 as it reported a £4bn annual loss inflicted by the pandemic. The company swung to a £4bn underlying pre-tax loss in the year to the end of December from a £583m profit a year earlier as underlying revenue fell to £11.8bn from £15.5bn.
Morrisons edged higher after the supermarket chain saw annual profits halved as it was impacted by extra Covid costs, but also declared a special dividend alongside a final payout.
Spirent Communications gained after it reported a rise in full-year profit and declared a special dividend despite “a challenging environment” due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
IG Group rallied as the online trading platform said third-quarter revenues surged 65% thanks to “exceptional” levels of trading activity throughout the quarter.
Landscape products company Marshalls surged as it posted a decline in full-year profit and revenue as it took a hit from the Covid-19 pandemic, but lifted its expectations for 2021 following a strong start to trading.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,701.42 -0.36%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,483.60 0.36%
techMARK (TASX) 4,115.82 0.45%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,177.00p 3.88%
Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) 15,490.00p 3.34%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,136.00p 2.69%
Entain (ENT) 1,488.00p 2.59%
Fresnillo (FRES) 954.60p 2.51%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 7,426.00p 2.26%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 567.40p 2.23%
Pearson (PSON) 836.80p 2.10%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,914.50p 2.01%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,498.00p 1.97%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 422.90p -5.20%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,950.00p -4.99%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 480.20p -2.79%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 7,015.00p -2.46%
Evraz (EVR) 568.00p -2.17%
BAE Systems (BA.) 489.80p -2.12%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,050.00p -2.09%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,377.00p -1.83%
Barclays (BARC) 171.02p -1.71%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,337.00p -1.48%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Marshalls (MSLH) 756.00p 8.31%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 255.00p 7.37%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 356.80p 5.81%
Hammerson (HMSO) 33.86p 5.68%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 851.00p 4.93%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,334.00p 4.22%
Savills (SVS) 1,103.00p 4.15%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 395.50p 3.53%
Gamesys Group (GYS) 1,500.00p 3.45%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 430.00p 3.24%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Helios Towers (HTWS) 158.80p -5.48%
Energean (ENOG) 894.30p -3.93%
Capita (CPI) 44.54p -3.34%
IWG (IWG) 345.20p -3.25%
Playtech (PTEC) 496.00p -2.97%
IP Group (IPO) 117.00p -2.66%
Indivior (INDV) 121.40p -2.02%
Meggitt (MGGT) 448.50p -2.01%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 79.80p -1.85%
Carnival (CCL) 1,624.00p -1.72%
