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(Alliance News) - London stocks continued to post steep losses at midday on Thursday with travel firms once again among the hardest hit as the coronavirus outbreak expanded into Europe.
The FTSE 100 was down 144.18 points, or 2.1%, at 6,898.29 on Thursday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 530.98 points, or 2.6%, at 20,091.97 at midday and the AIM All-Share index was down 2.2% at 891.36.
The Cboe UK 100 index was down 2.0% at 11,683.22. The Cboe 250 was down 2.7% at 18,056.09, while the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.8% at 11,970.94.
In mainland Europe, both the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were 2.3% lower.
"The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus is on the rise, and so is the number of countries that have infections. Dealers are dreading a pandemic as they are afraid economic activity will be reduced as lockdowns will disrupt the business world," said David Madden at CMC Markets.
Authorities in Italy have reported that the number of people infected in the country grew to 447 and 12 people have died, while Denmark reported its first case.
Romania, Greece and neighbouring North Macedonia registered their first confirmed virus cases on Wednesday, involving people who recently travelled to Italy's afflicted north. The first cases reported in Austria, Croatia and Switzerland on Tuesday also had travel ties to northern Italy.
South Korea reported 505 more cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 1,766. China reported 433 new cases along with 29 additional deaths, with 383 of the new cases in the epicentre of the city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December.
Since the new coronavirus emerged in December in central China, there have been at least 82,000 cases globally, with more than 2,700 deaths.
"The tourism sector has suffered greatly this week for fear that people's travel plans will be shelved. TUI, easyJet and BA's parent, International Consolidated Airlines Group shares are all nursing heavy losses," said CMC's Madden.
TUI shares were down 6.5%, easyJet down 10% and IAG down 8.4%. The FTSE 350 travel & leisure sector is one of the worst performers so far this week, down 12%.
Stocks in the US are also on course for a downbeat session on Thursday, with the Dow pointed 1.0% lower, the S&P 500 also down 1.0% and the Nasdaq off 0.9%.
Safe havens remained firm in the risk-off environment. Gold was quoted at USD1,648.10 an ounce on Thursday, up from USD1,637.00 on Wednesday.
The Japanese yen, another safe haven, also was higher. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY110.06, down from JPY110.52.
Oil, meanwhile, was trading around its lowest levels since late 2018. Brent oil was trading at USD52.29 a barrel on Thursday, lower than USD54.45 late Wednesday in London.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2872 on Thursday, flat on USD1.2920 at the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro traded at USD1.0939 on Thursday, higher than USD1.0866 late Wednesday.
The European Commission showed economic sentiment increased in the euro area in February.
The economic sentiment indicator increased by 0.9 points to 103.5 in February, largely due to higher confidence among consumers.
Consumer confidence was up 1.5 points to minus 6.6 from minus 8.1 in January.
The mood among consumers lifted "thanks to households' much brighter expectations in respect of the general economic situation, which outstripped slightly more upbeat appraisals of their past and future financial situation, as well as their intentions to make major purchases."
ING, though, didn't get carried away with the figures given the coronavirus outbreak.
"Before getting too excited about the positive figures, we must remember the survey is conducted within the first two to three weeks of the month. The number of Covid-19 cases outside of China only started to increase significantly after 21 February. In other words, the survey was done at a time when Europe considered Covid-19 largely a Chinese problem with some minor negative effects on the rest of the world," highlighted ING.
Back in London, WPP was the worst performer in the FTSE 100, sinking 15%.
WPP's 2019 revenue from continuing operations was up 1.4% to GBP13.23 billion from GBP13.05 billion, but pretax profit slumped 22% to GBP982 million from GBP1.26 billion. Billings, meanwhile, slipped 0.3% to GBP53.06 billion GBP53.22 billion. Like-for-like billings were down 1.0% in 2019.
Revenue less pass-through costs came in 0.3% lower at GBP10.85 billion, from GBP10.88 billion. For 2020, the company expects revenue less pass-through costs to be flat year-on-year, although WPP said this guidance was made prior to any impact from the coronavirus outbreak.
The top blue-chip performer was Hikma, up 4.3% as it reported profit growth for 2019.
The FTSE 100-listed pharmaceuticals firm said group revenue in 2019 rose 7% to USD2.2 billion from USD2.07 billion in 2018, reflecting good growth in each of the three business.
Pretax profit grew to USD493 million from USD293 million in 2018, also reflecting strong performance of its three business segments.
In the FTSE 250, Aston Martin slumped 12% as it confirmed details of its GBP500 million funding plan after enduring a torrid 2019 that brought wider losses.
Aston Martin also announced the departure of Chief Financial Officer Mark Wilson "by no later than" the end of April. A process has begun to find a successor. It said the change was "following discussions and by mutual agreement".
The luxury carmaker's revenue in 2019 fell 9% on the year before to GBP997.3 million, with wholesale volumes also down 9%, to 5,862 units. Gaydon, Warwickshire-based Aston Martin posted a pretax loss of GBP104.3 million for the year, widening from GBP68.2 million.
Playtech shares slipped 12% as it warned results for 2020 will be below market expectations.
Revenue for 2019 rose 23% to EUR1.51 billion, up 22% at constant currency. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was up 11% to EUR383.1 million, but pretax profit slumped to EUR48.2 million from EUR187.7 million.
For 2020 as a whole, Playtech warned results are likely to be below market expectations, having seen a "material impact" in the last two weeks from changes in normal customer patterns due to Covid-19. The virus is "significantly affecting" two of the company's largest markets, it added.
To come in the economic calendar on Thursday is a fourth quarter US gross domestic product reading at 1330 GMT.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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