Losses by a string of miners forced the FTSE 100 into negative territory for a fourth consecutive session yesterday, dragging London’s senior share index to a near-two-month low.
Factors including growing tensions in the Middle East, concerns about higher-for-longer interest rates and dwindling hopes of stronger stimulus from China each played a part in denting the prices of most base metals. Miners, therefore, came under pressure, with Antofagasta dropping 27p, or 2 per cent, to £12.97, Glencore slipping 6¾p, or 1.5 per cent, to 428¾p and Anglo American retreating 29½p, or 1.4 per cent, to £20.31½.
The biggest drag, though, was from Fresnillo, the Mexican precious metals group, which lost 25¾p, or 4.7 per cent, to 525¾p as gold prices retreated from Friday’s five-month peak after US treasury yields moved higher. Endeavour Mining fell 42p, or 2.4 per cent, to £17.18 and Centamin, which also digs for the yellow metal, slid 3½p, or 4.2 per cent, to 79½p.
The FTSE 100 consequently dropped 27.31 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 7,374.83. The more UK-focused FTSE 250 improved 26.26 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 17,058.99.
Another drag on the senior index was BP as a slide in oil prices prompted investors to sell. Its shares closed down 13¼p, or 2.4 per cent, at 532¼p. Others in the sector suffered, too. Energean fell by 39p, or 4.5 per cent, to 829½p and Harbour Energy by 8p, or 3.1 per cent, to 252¼p.
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Flutter Entertainment took the top spot on the Footsie leaderboard, rising 505p, or 4.1 per cent, to £129.55 after analysts at Exane BNP Paribas said the owner of Paddy Power was their top pick in the gambling sector. The company “will be the first large operator to generate positive cashflows in that market”, they said.
Having suffered on the back of last week’s poor sales figures, retailers recovered some lost ground. Ocado bounced off four-month lows to finish 18¾p, or 3.8 per cent, higher at 505½p, while Next improved 124p, or 1.8 per cent, to £69.58. JD Sports Fashion added 2p, or 1.6 per cent, to 128¼p.
Rightmove has been out of fashion after CoStar’s £99 million acquisition of OnTheMarket, its rival, but Panmure Gordon reckons the market has oversold, arguing that the property portal “is too strong to break without extraordinary expense”. To defeat Rightmove’s dominance would take a level of advertising spending beyond what CoStar is willing to deploy, it argued. With the market suitably reassured, the shares nudged up 2½p, or 0.5 per cent, to 488¾p.
Off the main market there was excitement over Upland Resources. The Jersey-based oil and gas explorer received an unsolicited offer at 14p a share from SEC Capital. The board, however, said the proposal “significantly undervalues the current potential of the company” and rejected the bid.
Ashley Kelty, of Panmure Gordon, noted that the decision to turn down the offer, with at less than 3p, “raises serious questions about the board and its fiduciary duties, as it’s extremely unlikely that the shares could reach this level over the medium term even in event of success”. Still, the excitement got the markets moving and the shares soared 2¼p, or 80.3 per cent, to a record high of 5¼p.
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Producing a less remarkable but still impressive performance was Tirupati, the small graphite producer, which leapt 3½p, or 25 per cent, to reach 17½p after it told investors that it expected China’s decision to impose export controls on graphite to be positive in terms of the “likely impact on prices, and on the long-term demand” for Tirupati’s product.
Mission Group slams on brakes
Having told the market less than a month ago that it was on track to meet its own board’s expectations, investors in The Mission Group were alarmed to learn that in fact its full-year performance was going to end quite differently.
Shares in the Aim-quoted advertising and marketing specialist more than halved after it said that because trading was “rapidly becoming more challenging” than expected, the group’s annual performance would be “materially below market expectations”.
The company, which comprises a group of 19 digital marketing and communication agencies, employs 1,100 people in 28 locations. It has worked with companies such as Google, Porsche, AstraZeneca and Citibank.
The Mission Group’s bosses expect headline pre-tax profits to be no more than £3.1 million, significantly lower than the £7.8 million reported in 2022. In another blow to shareholders, it also cancelled its interim dividend.
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Because of the dramatic shift in trading, the company has launched an operational review.
The shares closed down 20p, or 58.8 per cent, at 14p.
Wall Street report
Worries about turmoil in the Middle East added to concerns closer to home about the bond market sell-off and sent the Dow Jones industrial average into the red in the afternoon and to a close of 32,936.41, down 190.87 points, or 0.6 per cent.
