Stock prices in London were down at midday on Friday, as attention shifted back to Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, following yesterday’s rate cuts.
China said on Friday lawmakers had agreed to raise the local government debt ceiling by $840 billion, opening up new funds for its ailing economy.
However, ‘what has been announced so far doesn’t seem to be moving the needle and the risks to China from a second Trump presidency are now overshadowing efforts to get the economy moving,’ said AJ Bell’s Russ Mould. ‘The question on investors’ lips will be whether this encourages Beijing to unveil a bolder package of measures.’
He added: ‘As expected the Federal Reserve followed up the Bank of England’s quarter percentage point rate cut with its own cut of the same quantum overnight. However, news which ordinarily would have drawn a lot of the market’s focus has been pushed down the agenda as attention is turned to the implications of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.’
The FTSE 100 index was down 73.30 points, 0.9%, at 8,067.44. The FTSE 250 was down 141.78 points, 0.7%, at 20,493.59, and the AIM All-Share was down 2.82 points, 0.4%, at 735.41.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 1.0% at 808.97, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.6% at 17,985.07 and the Cboe Small Companies was near-flat at 16,305.30.
Miners, who as Mould noted ‘are reliant on China for much of their demand’, were in the red with Antofagasta losing 5.8%, Anglo American down 4.2% and Rio Tinto down 3.9%.
Vistry beat them all, however, with the housebuilder’s stock plummeting 19%.
An increase in potential expenses (due to previously understated development costs) means a reduction in Vistry’s guidance for adjusted pretax profit, which was cut by 19% to around £350 million for 2024 from £430 million previously. The company now expects to deliver total completions of around 17,500 units for the full year, reduced from previous guidance of 18,000.
Wizz Air was among the FTSE 250’s biggest winners, rising 8.1%.
Bernstein, which rates the airline at ’outperform’, cut the price target to 4,250p from 4,720p. Barclays, which rates it ’underweight’, raised its target to 1,200p from 1,100p.
Serco was its biggest loser with an 11% decline.
The outsourcer was unsuccessful in renewing a contract over immigration detention facilities in Australia, although it maintains its full-year guidance and cited market consensus forecasting £4.9 billion in revenue and £282 million in underlying operating profit for 2025.
Over on AIM, Minoan was up 13%.
As part of its deal to convert creditors to shareholders, the Greece-focused hotel developer will issue 77.9 million shares at average 1.68p, ‘a significant premium’.
Bushveld lost 21%.
The vanadium producer reported lower production and sales in its latest nine-month period, and said it has suspended guidance for the rest of this year due to working capital conditions.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.8%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.7%.
The pound was quoted at $1.2966 at midday on Friday in London, compared to $1.2985 at the equities close on Thursday. The euro stood at $1.0784, slightly down against $1.0791. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JP¥152.36 compared to JP¥153.11.
Stocks in New York were called mostly lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called slightly higher, the S&P 500 index down 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.3%.
Brent oil was quoted lower at $74.72 a barrel at midday in London on Friday from $74.91 late Thursday.
Gold was quoted lower at $2,693.33 an ounce against $2,697.24.
Still to come on Friday’s economic calendar is the US Michigan consumer sentiment index.
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