Pubs, gaming firms and gold miners are among the handful of UK-quoted companies largely escaping Tuesday's stock market sell-off.
Gold prices rose 0.7% at $1,342 per ounce on Tuesday. Gold is typically seen as a ‘safe haven’ during geopolitical crises or stock market crashes so it comes as little surprise that investors are today turning to the metal.
Today's increase in the gold price may look modest against the current stock market backcloth, although gold prices have been steadily rising since mid-December's $1,241 per ounce levels.
This perhaps explains why FTSE 100 gold miners Randgold Resources (RRS) and Fresnillo (FRES) are both escaping a massive share price sell-off today. Both stocks are largely flat at £65.30 and £13,085 respectively.
Shares in widely perceived recession-resistant companies also manage to avoid the worst of today's slump. These include pub operators Young & Co’s Brewery (YNGA) and Fuller Smith & Turner (FSTA) , both largely flat at £11.35 and 954p respectively.
In past downturns, bingo and gambling demand have remained resilient. This still rings true with Gaming Realms (GMR:AIM) ticking 1.4% higher to 10.9p and Rank Group (RNK) up 0.6% at 229p.
Among the biggest fallers is investment company Utilico Emerging Markets (UEMS), which plummeted 18.4% to 26p as investors rush to claw back cash invested in equities overseas.
INVESTORS ARE TURNING TO DOMESTIC STOCKS
The strengthening pound is making UK domestic revenue earners more appealing to investors. Greeting cards retailer Card Factory (CARD), bikes-to-car parts seller Halfords (HFD) and UK supermarket Tesco (TSCO) see modest uplifts in their respective share prices of around 1%.
The mid cap FTSE 250 index has a far greater company population of UK focused businesses versus the FTSE 100, where the latter constituents earn about 70% of their income from overseas.
CORPORATE NEWS THAT IS MOVING SHARE PRICES
Naturally some of the gains today are driven by company announcements. Software and IT services reseller Softcat (SCT) rises 1.9% to 528p after announcing it is anticipated to ‘slightly exceed’ previous full year expectations.
Online grocer Ocado (OCDO) missed forecasts with flat full year core earnings and plans to raise £140m for further growth. Investors marked the shares 5.4% lower to 465.8p.
Oil major BP (BP.) failed to make any gains in the sell-off despite beating fourth-quarter analyst expectations, slipping 1% to 477.3p.
Train companies were going off the rails in response to Monday’s announcement that Stagecoach’s (SGC) contract for the East Coast franchise would end earlier than expected. The early termination was blamed on the firm messing up the numbers.
Stagecoach reversed 8.7% to 132.6p and Southeastern franchise owner Go-Ahead (GOG) fell 4% to £14.62 in sympathy.
