London midday: FTSE falls as investors continue to mull Trump win; jobs data in focus

(Sharecast News) - London stocks had fallen further by midday on Tuesday as investors mulled the latest UK jobs data and the impact of Donald Trump's US presidential win.

The FTSE 100 was down 1% at 8,048.39.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Sentiment seemed patchy across the board as investors continued to spend time digesting the implications of a Trump administration.

"Despite the initial excitement upon the election result last week, investors are starting to realise that Donald Trump's ideas could drive up inflation, make life tough for foreign companies selling into the US, and raise geopolitical risks. It creates the kind of uncertainty which markets hate."

On home shores, figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that unemployment ticked up in the three months to September, while wage growth cooled.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.3% from 4% in the previous quarter, versus expectations for a 4.1% increase.

Pay excluding bonuses rose 4.8% on the same period a year earlier, which was the lowest since June 2022.

Including bonuses, pay growth rose to 4.3% from 3.8% but the ONS said this was affected by the civil service one-off payments made in July and August 2023.

ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: "Growth in pay excluding bonuses eased again this month to its lowest rate in over two years. Pay growth including bonuses increased, but for recent periods these figures have been affected by last year's one-off payments made to public sector workers.

"Job vacancies have fallen again, as they have been doing for more than two years now. However, the total still remains a little above where it was before the pandemic."

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The worry here is that sticky wage growth could scupper the Bank of England's plans to keep interest rates coming down, but policymakers won't be losing too much sleep over these numbers."

In equity markets, Vodafone slumped even as it reiterated full-year guidance after saying first-half results were in line with expectations.

Russ Mould said the quarterly performance "was marred by a weak showing for its German business, its biggest market, where a previously flagged issue around the government barring housing associations from bundling TV with rent is impacting performance".

Fresnillo slid after saying that Industrias Peñoles, its partner in a long-standing silver production agreement, was having operational issues affecting the Sabinas mine, which is fully owned by Peñoles.

Burberry slid following a report that Italy's Moncler is not in talks to take over the UK fashion brand. Late on Monday, Reuters cited four sources as saying that Moncler and Burberry were not in talks.

The shares had risen early in the session on Monday after The Mail on Sunday said Burberry was on the brink of being bought by Moncler.

4Imprint lost ground as it hailed a "strong financial performance in difficult market conditions" in the 10 months to the end of October.

Direct Line was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' by Jefferies, which cut its price target to 165p from 235p.

On the upside, Convatec surged to the top of the FTSE 100 as the wound care specialist raised its guidance for 2024 following robust sales growth across its divisions.

DCC shot higher as it announced plans to simplify its operations and focus on the energy sector. The sales, marketing and support services group also reported a rise in interim profit and lifted its dividend.

Melrose Industries gained on the back of an upbeat note from Citi, which said a recent site visit at Western Approach highlighted "a number of industry-leading technologies".

BAE Systems edged up as the arms maker held annual guidance and said its order book reflected demand from governments for weaponry amid increasing global tensions.

AstraZeneca was in the black after upgrading its full-year revenue and earnings per share guidance, citing strong growth across key therapy areas and solid financial results for the first nine months of the year.

Drax rose sharply as it said full-year expectations for adjusted EBITDA were "around the top end" of analyst estimates.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,048.39 -0.95% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,570.83 -0.74% techMARK (TASX) 4,601.79 -1.19%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Convatec Group (CTEC) 260.80p 20.41% DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,710.00p 14.98% Melrose Industries (MRO) 524.80p 2.26% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 957.60p 2.11% Rightmove (RMV) 602.20p 1.72% Centrica (CNA) 118.60p 1.63% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,401.00p 0.54% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,642.00p 0.33% Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,256.00p 0.27% SEGRO (SGRO) 780.80p 0.23%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Vodafone Group (VOD) 68.64p -5.97% Fresnillo (FRES) 636.50p -5.84% Vistry Group (VTY) 712.00p -5.76% Anglo American (AAL) 2,231.00p -4.10% Prudential (PRU) 618.20p -3.62% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,607.00p -2.99% Croda International (CRDA) 3,680.00p -2.98% Airtel Africa (AAF) 95.50p -2.80% Glencore (GLEN) 377.75p -2.77% GSK (GSK) 1,364.00p -2.36%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Drax Group (DRX) 689.50p 7.40% Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 5,090.00p 5.38% Kainos Group (KNOS) 866.00p 2.61% Chemring Group (CHG) 373.50p 2.47% XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 368.00p 1.38% TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 3,240.00p 1.25% PureTech Health (PRTC) 171.00p 1.18% Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 462.40p 1.00% Travis Perkins (TPK) 805.50p 0.94% Babcock International Group (BAB) 508.00p 0.89%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 726.00p -6.68% 4Imprint Group (FOUR) 5,120.00p -5.88% Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 152.60p -4.98% Renewi (RWI) 585.00p -4.57% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,456.00p -3.64% Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 422.80p -3.56% Helios Towers (HTWS) 109.00p -3.37% Ocado Group (OCDO) 332.70p -3.14% North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 3,830.00p -3.04% Wood Group (John) (WG.) 59.75p -2.92%