London open: Stocks dip; Vistry tumbles on profit warning

(Sharecast News) - London stocks dipped in early trade on Friday at the end of an eventful week, as investors mulled rate cuts by the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve. At 0840 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 8,134.88.

On Thursday, both the BoE and the Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points, as expected.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "UK markets have struggled to hold on to the initial gains following the US election result, weighed in part by the prospects of tariffs from the new President which could crimp trade and potentially add to the inflationary mix at a time when the situation is increasingly under control.

"This has tended to offset the theoretical tailwinds of a weaker pound and the large exposure of many FTSE 100 constituents to the fortunes of the US economy, although the primary index has managed a gain of 5.2% so far this year."

On the corporate front, Vistry tumbled as the housebuilder warned on full-year profits again, cutting its forecast for completions and pointing to the impact from issues in the South Division.

The housebuilder now expects FY24 adjusted pre-tax profit of around £300m, down from a forecast of £300m last month.

The company already warned on profits in October, saying it was expecting FY24 profit to be £80m lower, FY25 profit to be around £30m lower and profit for FY25 to be hit by £5m.

It said at the time that this was because it had underestimated build costs on nine schemes in its Southern Division.

Serco also suffered heavy losses as the outsourcer said it had not been reselected for its long-running Australian immigration detention centres contract, and estimated that changes to employer national insurance contributions will increase labour costs by £20m a year.

Miners were also under the cosh, with Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio all down as copper and iron ore prices fell.

On the upside, BA and Iberia owner IAG flew to the top of the FTSE 100 as it posted a 15% jump in third-quarter operating profit to €2.01bn and a 7.9% increase in revenue, and announced a €350m share buyback.

EasyJet and Wizz Air also gained.

TI Fluid Systems advanced after saying that the deadline by which ABC Technologies must make a firm offer for the company has been extended in order to allow the group to finalise its remaining confirmatory due diligence and financing.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,134.88 -0.07% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,553.55 -0.40% techMARK (TASX) 4,604.39 0.14%

FTSE 100 - Risers

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 235.20p 7.50% easyJet (EZJ) 548.20p 2.12% AstraZeneca (AZN) 9,905.00p 1.85% Relx plc (REL) 3,702.00p 1.73% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 9,154.00p 1.62% BT Group (BT.A) 138.40p 1.02% Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,320.00p 1.00% Pearson (PSON) 1,192.50p 0.89% Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 789.40p 0.82% GSK (GSK) 1,390.50p 0.76%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Vistry Group (VTY) 756.00p -13.45% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,743.50p -3.59% Anglo American (AAL) 2,411.50p -2.72% Glencore (GLEN) 404.70p -2.58% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,082.00p -2.29% Prudential (PRU) 659.20p -1.85% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 252.60p -1.64% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 7,708.00p -1.58% Entain (ENT) 725.80p -1.52% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 18,070.00p -1.23%

FTSE 250 - Risers

TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 171.40p 3.88% Cranswick (CWK) 5,170.00p 1.97% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,402.00p 1.89% Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) 702.00p 1.45% WH Smith (SMWH) 1,352.00p 1.20% Great Portland Estates (GPE) 309.50p 1.14% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 102.80p 0.98% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 665.00p 0.91% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,615.00p 0.87% Trainline (TRN) 420.00p 0.77%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Serco Group (SRP) 156.50p -11.78% W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 76.60p -6.81% Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 241.00p -4.55% CMC Markets (CMCX) 312.00p -3.85% Greggs (GRG) 2,702.00p -3.71% Ninety One (N91) 163.50p -2.68% Close Brothers Group (CBG) 213.60p -2.64% Wood Group (John) (WG.) 48.56p -2.57% Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 217.00p -2.47% ITV (ITV) 61.65p -2.07%