London stocks traded mixed on Friday, while market participants digested US jobless claims data suggesting resilience in the American economy and kept one eye on data releases due out in the afternoon.
The FTSE 100 index was marginally higher, by 0.040 points, at 8,137.03. The FTSE 250 was down 70.18 points, 0.3%, at 20,501.33, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.22 points at 717.18.
The Cboe UK 100 was marginally lower at 816.27, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.3% at 17,962.40, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.5% at 15,883.55.
Next was one of the biggest FTSE 100 losers, down 1.9%.
The fashion retailer’s stores were closed on Boxing Day when UK high street footfall fell 7.6% from last year, although the data had been compared with an unusual spike in footfall as 2023 was the first Christmas period since 2019 without Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
Mining titan Anglo American was down 1.5%.
It does not have operations in Mozambique, where severe unrest since October’s contested presidential election is estimated to have caused at least 150 deaths. Anglo American does however have assets elsewhere in southern Africa, including the Unki mine in Mozambique’s next-door neighbour Zimbabwe.
On the FTSE 250, Syncona was up 0.3%.
The life sciences-focused investor said portfolio company Achilles Therapeutics PLC has sold its technology assets to AstraZeneca for $12 million. FTSE 100-listed Astra was down 0.2%.
Peel Hunt analysts commented that Syncona ‘currently trades on a 44% discount, which we believe significantly undervalues the quality of the science in the portfolio, the strength of the balance sheet (£352.7 million as of September 2024), and the proven execution of the management team.’
In smaller caps, Gemfields was up 3.6% despite recent arson incidents at buildings owned by its subsidiary Montepuez Ruby Mining Ltd, which is in Mozambique. It reassured investors that normal operations should resume before the year ends.
Kenmare Resources however was down 2.1%, despite a lack so far of ‘material incidents’ or damage to facilities at its Moma mine in northern Mozambique.
Also, it said it has ‘comfortably exceeded minimum production guidance in respect of all products for 2024’.
Walker Crips was down 2.8%.
The stockbroker and asset manager swung to a half-year pretax loss of £1.5 million, although revenue rose 2.3% to £15.8 million.
Also, it did not declare an interim dividend due to ‘capital and liquidity requirements’, and expects the second half to be ‘as challenging’ as the first.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.3%.
The pound was quoted slightly lower at $1.2548 at midday on Friday in London, compared to $1.2555 at the equities close on Tuesday. The euro stood at $1.0429, higher against $1.0403. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥157.71 compared to JP¥157.10.
Stocks in New York were called lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called down 0.3%, the S&P 500 index down 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.4%.
Out on Boxing Day, US seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims were 219,000 in the week that ended this past Saturday, down 1,000 from the previously week’s unrevised total of 220,000, the US Department of Labor said. Market consensus cited by FXStreet had expected 224,000 claims.
However, seasonally adjusted continuing claims for the week that ended December 14 were 1.910 million, up by 46,000 from the previous week’s 1.864 million.
‘[The initial weekly unemployment claims figure] has been running consistently below 250,000 a week in the wake of the pandemic and any spike here could signal that a hard economic landing is coming,’ commented AJ Bell’s Russ Mould. ‘The recent data has been a bit noisy owing to the effect of hurricanes and strikes at Boeing but the first, post-Christmas reading was a benign 219,000 and thus spoke of US economic resilience, not weakness.’
Brent oil was quoted higher at $73.82 a barrel at midday in London on Friday from $73.03 late Tuesday.
Gold was quoted higher at $2,627.33 an ounce against $2,614.31.
Still to come on Friday’s economic calendar, there are several releases from the US including the trade balance, wholesale inventories data, and the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index.
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