London close: Stocks recover from early selling

(Sharecast News) - London stocks recovered from early selling even as investors kept close tabs on the news-flow out of China where cases of Covid-19 were surging following the release of modestly softer weekly jobless claims data in the US. Government said restrictions on travellers arriving from China were under review but that as of yet there were no plans for changes.

Significantly, perhaps, no new variant had as of yet been detected, but overnight the US implemented tighter controls, following on the footsteps of Japan, Taiwan, Italy, Malaysia and South Korea in days prior.

The FTSE 100 index was 0.21% higher to 7,512.72 and the second-tier index put on 0.59% to 18,996.45.

Markets in Asia on the other hand came under pressure overnight with Hong Kong's Hang Seng down more than 1% amid concerns about the impact of covid on demand in China.

That served to drag on oil prices into the red with brent crude down by just over 1%.

Stateside meanwhile, the Department of Labor reported that so-called secondary claims rose by 40,000 over the week ending on 17 December to 1.7m.

The inflation outlook remained a concern for investors but the jobs market and to what degree it loosened was considered a key input when trying to anticipate the path of inflation.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,512.72 0.21% FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,996.45 0.59% techMARK (TASX) 4,410.82 0.39%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 715.80p 3.74% Airtel Africa (AAF) 113.90p 2.61% Next (NXT) 5,752.00p 1.66% DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,165.00p 1.61% Schroders (SDR) 445.40p 1.60% Entain (ENT) 1,329.50p 1.57% Ocado Group (OCDO) 633.40p 1.54% SEGRO (SGRO) 774.00p 1.52% St James's Place (STJ) 1,111.00p 1.32% Rightmove (RMV) 524.40p 1.27%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,553.50p -2.14% Anglo American (AAL) 3,254.50p -0.96% Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,076.00p -0.95% British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,304.50p -0.84% Fresnillo (FRES) 885.40p -0.70% BAE Systems (BA.) 862.00p -0.58% Centrica (CNA) 96.50p -0.56% Whitbread (WTB) 2,608.00p -0.53% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 103.80p -0.43% Glencore (GLEN) 558.30p -0.25%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 165.40p 8.00% Molten Ventures (GROW) 363.00p 5.89% ASOS (ASC) 522.50p 3.67% Carnival (CCL) 585.60p 3.43% Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 212.50p 3.41% Helios Towers (HTWS) 104.20p 3.37% IWG (IWG) 163.15p 3.36% Moonpig Group (MOON) 112.00p 3.23% Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust (APEO) 447.00p 3.22% Warehouse Reit (WHR) 105.80p 3.12%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 159.50p -3.04% Currys (CURY) 54.60p -2.33% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 70.25p -2.23% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,967.50p -1.60% Schroder Asia Pacific Fund (SDP) 503.00p -1.57% C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 178.60p -1.49% Bellway (BWY) 1,943.00p -1.40% Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 116.50p -1.27% Hammerson (HMSO) 23.80p -1.04% SSP Group (SSPG) 228.20p -1.00%