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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended lower on Friday as earlier enthusiasm over Covid-19 vaccine news dwindled, with soaring infection numbers weighing on sentiment.
"It hasn't been a particularly inspiring session for markets, which have struggled to make much headway on the final day of the week as weakening excitement over a vaccine contrasts with the rise in cases across Europe and the US," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.
He added: "As we move into the second half of the month it will continue to be a battle between the hope of vaccine progress and the reality of the situation on the ground. The talk of a rotation out of growth and into value this week has fizzled as the immediate vaccine bounce faded, and the long winter ahead means these value stocks may struggle to make much headway for the time being. At least however we seem to have a path out of the crisis, a big improvement over a week ago. "
The FTSE 100 index closed 0.4%, or 22.55 points lower at 6,316.39, ending the week 7.0% higher.
The FTSE 250 ended 0.2%, or 32.17 points lower, at 19,270.00, finishing the week 7.6% higher.
The AIM All-Share closed 0.5%, or 5.17 points higher, at 999.62, a 1.7% rise for the week.
The Cboe UK 100 index closed 0.4% lower at 629.64 on Friday. The Cboe 250 ended 0.1% higher at 16,568.88. The Cboe Small Companies rose 1.0% to 10,667.29.
In response to news that US pharma giant Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech had announced promising results in trials of their potential vaccine, showing efficacy of around 90%, Bank of England head Andrew Bailey said he hoped the positive news would reduce uncertainty over the economic outlook, but "we're not there yet".
He was among other central bank bosses calling for caution in the wake of the news from the pharamceutical firms.
Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said Thursday that it is "too soon to assess" the potential impact of a coronavirus vaccine on the economy in 2021 and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde cautioned against "exuberant" hopes for the vaccine's economic impact, also highlighting the likely logistical challenges.
In London, JD Sports Fashion ended 0.1% lower, having announced just before the close that a tribunal had quashed a UK watchdog's verdict which prohibited the retailer from sealing its takeover of Footasylum.
The decision by the Competition Appeal Tribunal means the Competition & Markets Authority will reconsider the case.
Back in May, JD Sports hit out at the monopoly regulator after the CMA flexed its muscles and blocked the retailer's GBP90 million acquisition of high street outfit Footasylum.
The CMA had ordered JD Sports to sell Footasylum, but said it would allow it "sufficient time" due to the market turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The CMA said the tie-up would have left customers with "fewer discounts or receiving lower quality customer service".
Indivior closed 1.6% higher. It said a US federal court in the Western District of Virginia has approved the agreement between the pharmaceuticals firm and the US Department of Justice over resolving criminal charges in the US related to its Suboxone film opioid dependence medication.
In mid-July, Indivior agreed to part with USD600 million to resolve the charges with the US Justice Department.
In April 2019 a grand jury in the Western District of Virginia had issued an indictment of 28 felony counts against the company related to fraud.
The felonies, issued in connection with a federal criminal investigation initiated by the US Department of Justice in 2013, include one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and health care fraud; one count of health care fraud; four counts of mail fraud; and 22 counts of wire fraud.
In a statement Friday, Indivior noted the federal court has dismissed all of these charges.
In political news, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's chief adviser Dominic Cummings is expected to leave his role by the end of the year after Downing Street became gripped by a bitter power struggle.
The controversial Vote Leave veteran told the BBC that "rumours of me threatening to resign are invented" after suggestions he was preparing to quit alongside communications director Lee Cain. But Cummings said his "position hasn't changed since my January blog" when he wrote that he hoped to make himself "largely redundant" by the end of 2020.
Cabinet Minister Grant Shapps said Cummings "will be missed" but said he is not surprised that the aide is departing, adding: "Advisers do come and go."
Meanwhile, the Treasury has settled an employment tribunal claim with a former aide who was fired by Cummings, with the PA news agency understanding that the UK government will be paying out a five-figure sum.
In the US, Joe Biden has won the state of Arizona, US networks said late Thursday, further cementing his lead in the Electoral College and flipping the state Democratic for the first time since 1996.
NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN declared Biden the winner in the tight race with a lead of more than 11,000 ballots, giving him the state's 11 electoral votes. Fox News and The Associated Press called the race in the southwestern state in Biden's favour on Election Night, triggering the wrath of President Donald Trump, but the other outlets held off on declaring a winner until after nine days of ballot counting.
Arizona gives Biden a 290-217 lead over Trump in the Electoral College that ultimately decides the presidency, with 270 needed to win the White House. Despite Biden being declared winner of the election on Saturday, Trump has refused to concede and continues to make baseless claims of election fraud.
However, a coalition of federal and state officials said they have no evidence that votes were compromised or altered in last week's US presidential election.
The statement from cybersecurity experts, which trumpeted the November 3 election as the most secure in American history, amounted to the most direct repudiation to date of President Donald Trump's efforts to undermine the integrity of the contest with unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud.
Stocks in New York were in the green at the London equities close. The DJIA was 0.8% higher, the S&P 500 index was 0.7% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.4%.
In Paris the CAC 40 ended 0.3% higher, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended 0.2% higher.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3172 at the London equities close, up from USD1.3141 at the same time on Thursday.
The euro stood at USD1.1824 at the European equities close, down from USD1.1812 a day before.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was trading at JPY104.65, down from JPY105.13 late Thursday.
Brent oil was trading lower and was quoted at USD42.88 a barrel at the equities close from USD44.03 at the same time on Thursday.
Gold traded higher. An ounce of the precious metal was quoted at USD1,891.34, up from USD1,878.64.
Over the weekend, Japan's GDP print is due Sunday. The economic calendar for Monday has a number of releases in the early hours, including the UK Rightmove monthly house price index, as well as China industrial production and retail sales, followed by Japan Industrial production.
Later in the week, a speech from BoE governor Bailey is planned for Tuesday and the UK CPI print is due on Wednesday.
The corporate calendar for Monday has half-year results from telecommunications firm Vodafone and IT services company Kainos, as well as first quarter results from defence and medical technology company Smiths Group. Seal and cables maker Diploma posts annual results.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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