FTSE retreats as aerospace and miners weigh – London Report
Mining and aerospace stocks weighed on FTSE yesterday as the UK’s top share index fell after posting its biggest weekly gain since 2011 in the previous session.
The benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 0.7 per cent at 6,371.18 points at its close, its first daily loss in nine sessions, having risen for the previous eight days.
The index gained 4.7 per cent last week, its biggest weekly percentage rise since late 2011.
“The FTSE 100 is seeing some profit-taking after a strong run last week. The recent gainers are witnessing some pullback, with miners leading the index lower,” said Jawaid Afsar, senior trader at Securequity.
“The market is looking for a strong catalyst to maintain its upward march. Until then, we will continue to see choppy moves.”
The UK mining index was down 2.7 per cent, the biggest sectoral decliner, after surging 19 per cent last week to record its best weekly performance in nearly seven years.
Mining and trading company Glencore fell 6.2 per cent, with Antofagasta down 3.3 per cent and Anglo American down 4.8 per cent.
Glencore’s shares rose earlier in the session on its plans to sell copper mines in Australia and Chile with a view to reducing its debt burden, but analysts said that the move was unlikely to make a big difference.
Rolls-Royce shares fell 3.9 per cent after the engine makers confirmed that they were in the process of filling out questionnaires sent to them by the European Commission regarding equipment servicing contracts in the aviation industry, in what could be a first step towards launching an investigation.
Brewer SABMiller was down 1.3 per cent at 3,699p after AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, raised its takeover offer to 4,350p per share, as some investors worried that the parties were too far apart.
Standard Chartered shares fell 3.1 per cent, with traders saying that a rating cut by Investec to “hold” from “buy” was weighing on the stock. “Despite ‘catch-up’ downgrades elsewhere, it appears that we continue to model a far worse outcome for the income statement than existing consensus assumptions,” analysts at Investec wrote in a note.
On the positive side, British Airways and Iberia owner International Consolidated Airlines Group rose 1.3 per cent after Goldman Sachs started its coverage on the stock with a “buy” rating.