London midday: Stocks stay down in quiet trade

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still a little weaker by midday on Friday, with trade likely to remain quiet as US markets will be open for just a half day later. The FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 7,471.05.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The usual adage is when the US sneezes the world catches a cold - in the latest case it appears when the US is on holiday global markets hit the snooze button.

"The FTSE 100 drifted lower on Friday as it lacked the usual direction provided by Wall Street. A sprinkle of profit taking and some weakness in the resources sector helped to put the index on the back foot."

Investors were digesting a survey released earlier by GfK, which showed that consumer confidence rebounded in November as people started to look towards the festive season.

The consumer confidence barometer was -24, a six-point increase following October's surprise nine-point slump to -30.

Within that, all sub-measures improved as well. The gauge for the personal financial situation for the next 12 months rose five points to -3, while expectations for the economic situation in the coming year improved six points to -26.

The main purchase index also rose, by 10 points to -24.

Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said: "Recent ups and downs in confidence have underlined the nation's topsy-turvy economic mood, as encouraging news about falling inflation and wage growth is offset by high personal taxation, alongside costly fuel and energy bills.

"The dramatic 10-point jump in our major purchase sub-measure, reversing some of the worrying 14-point drop we saw last month, will be good news for retailers looking to benefit from Black Friday and Christmas.

"Despite the acute cost of living pressures, many would still like to loosen their purse strings just a little so they can enjoy that feel-good factor we all associate with the festive season."

In equity markets, Barclays was among the top gainers on the FTSE 100 following a Reuters report the bank is looking to save up to £1bn via cost cuts, which could result in 2,000 job losses.

Legal & General nudged up after saying it had agreed to a full buy-in of the Boots pension scheme for £4.8bn.

The buy-in secures the benefits of all 53,000 retirees and deferred members of the scheme, making it the UK's largest single transaction of its kind by premium size and, for L&G, the largest single transaction by number of members.

JTC ticked lower as it agreed to buy Blackheath, a UK-based boutique asset management business, for an undisclosed sum.

Sage Group was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold' at Canaccord Genuity.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,471.05 -0.17% FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,473.64 -0.04% techMARK (TASX) 4,114.44 -0.30%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Vodafone Group (VOD) 71.93p 1.50% Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 2,762.00p 1.17% Tesco (TSCO) 283.00p 1.07% Barclays (BARC) 141.50p 0.90% Kingfisher (KGF) 216.50p 0.89% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 540.60p 0.82% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 127.10p 0.75% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 495.80p 0.69% 3i Group (III) 2,174.00p 0.65% SSE (SSE) 1,817.50p 0.64%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Sage Group (SGE) 1,100.00p -2.70% Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 12,575.00p -1.76% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,516.00p -1.33% Entain (ENT) 853.20p -1.30% Glencore (GLEN) 444.25p -1.23% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,714.00p -1.21% Anglo American (AAL) 2,206.00p -1.14% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 716.60p -0.97% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,144.00p -0.82% BT Group (BT.A) 121.65p -0.82%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 220.80p 2.99% IP Group (IPO) 52.40p 1.75% Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 87.00p 1.64% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 83.80p 1.45% Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Limited (SEQI) 84.50p 1.44% Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 369.40p 1.37% Cranswick (CWK) 3,934.00p 1.29% Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 143.20p 1.27% Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 242.60p 1.25% Just Group (JUST) 83.80p 1.21%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Mitie Group (MTO) 101.20p -3.62% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 161.20p -3.13% 888 Holdings (DI) (888) 81.20p -2.29% Dr. Martens (DOCS) 108.00p -2.26% Bellevue Healthcare Trust (Red) (BBH) 127.00p -2.16% FirstGroup (FGP) 163.60p -2.09% IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 250.60p -1.65% Kainos Group (KNOS) 943.50p -1.62% Indivior (INDV) 1,330.00p -1.48% Keller Group (KLR) 813.00p -1.33%