London midday: Stocks bounce back after volatile week

(Sharecast News) - London stocks had extended gains by midday on Friday, recovering from heavy losses earlier in the week as markets were rattled by worries about inflation and a global growth slowdown. The FTSE 100 was up 1.7% at 7,353.09.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "After the recession rout there was a calmer feel to market proceedings on Friday.

"A late recovery on Wall Street on Thursday may have helped investors' mood but the up and down nature of trading is a reminder of just how febrile things are right now.

"It feels financial assets are starting to reflect the full impact of the tumultuous events of 2022 thus far. Anyone tracking the FTSE 100, which has been kept afloat by its commodities exposure, decent income and tilt towards value, isn't getting a full picture of just how negative things are for stocks and shares right now.

"So while the UK's flagship index is down a few percent year-to-date, the MSCI World, dominated by the once-mighty US stock market, is down more than 17%.

"The big technology stocks, which were trading on such elevated valuations, have been hit particularly hard amid patchy performance and a wider repricing of risk.

"Fed chair Jerome Powell did his best to douse some of the burning panic which had set in over the latest US inflation number and what it might mean for interest rates by suggesting talk of 0.75 percentage point rate hikes was off the mark.

"The modest recovery of bitcoin after this week's cryptocurrency crunch will have done little to repair its status as a store of value as it sinks to half of last November's peak level."

Corporate news was thin on the ground, but company software provider Sage Group rose after it reported flat interim profits and revenue as organic growth in all regions was offset by disposals and foreign exchange headwinds. The company said pre-tax profit for the six months to March 31 fell 1% to £189m and revenue slipped to £934m from £937m.

Wholesale power firm ContourGlobal was also up after it said its diversified business remained "resilient and well positioned" despite "unprecedented turbulence" in global energy markets and that it had performed ahead of its expectations in the first quarter.

In broker note action, Coca-Cola HBC was the top gainer on the FTSE 100 after an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Jefferies.

On the downside, Drax was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'underperform' from 'neutral' at Credit Suisse, while Howden Joinery fell after a downgrade to 'hold' at Stifel.

Vodafone was also weaker after a downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' at Jefferies, which cited "intractable headwinds".

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,353.09 1.66% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,731.27 1.29% techMARK (TASX) 4,281.26 1.39%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,758.50p 4.24% Compass Group (CPG) 1,785.50p 3.96% Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 8,784.00p 3.73% Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,264.00p 3.68% Whitbread (WTB) 2,666.00p 3.61% Entain (ENT) 1,345.50p 3.46% Prudential (PRU) 944.60p 3.28% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,258.00p 3.16% Fresnillo (FRES) 726.60p 3.15% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 772.60p 2.90%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Pearson (PSON) 738.60p -2.20% London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,102.00p -1.63% Vodafone Group (VOD) 117.16p -1.31% Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 669.80p -1.27% Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 546.80p -1.05% Aveva Group (AVV) 2,117.00p -1.03% BT Group (BT.A) 177.35p -0.45% Rightmove (RMV) 556.00p -0.39% Mondi (MNDI) 1,549.00p -0.23% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,525.00p 0.20%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 280.00p 9.63% Moonpig Group (MOON) 231.20p 6.74% Trustpilot Group (TRST) 107.60p 5.91% TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 176.00p 5.77% Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 499.00p 5.39% SSP Group (SSPG) 232.60p 5.34% Dr. Martens (DOCS) 192.50p 5.25% Tullow Oil (TLW) 53.55p 4.79% Energean (ENOG) 1,376.00p 4.56% PureTech Health (PRTC) 175.60p 4.52%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Drax Group (DRX) 721.00p -6.73% Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 646.00p -4.15% Playtech (PTEC) 497.80p -3.90% Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,544.00p -1.66% Rank Group (RNK) 100.60p -1.37% VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 476.50p -1.35% Helios Towers (HTWS) 111.20p -1.33% Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 145.50p -1.15% Ninety One (N91) 245.20p -1.05% Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 171.40p -1.04%