LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Stocks slide as investors eye UK inflation

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended lower on Tuesday with AstraZeneca weighing on the FSTE 100, as investors look ahead to UK inflation figures on Wednesday.

The FTSE 100 index closed down 24.89 points, or 0.3%, at 7,326.97. The FTSE 250 ended down 81.87 points, or 0.4%, at 23,539.71. The AIM All-Share index finished down 8.80 points, or 0.7%, at 1,245.98.

The Cboe UK 100 index ended down 0.2% at 726.77. The Cboe 250 ended down 0.3% at 21,003.52. The Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.4% at 15,595.80.

In Paris, the CAC 40 stock index closed up 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up 0.6%.

"European markets have continued to go from strength to strength today with the DAX and CAC40 both accelerating to new record highs. It's been another day of underperformance for the FTSE 100 with AstraZeneca once again acting as the biggest drag. Today's weakness could be because of today's announcement by Pfizer that would let generic drug makers produce cheap versions of its new Covid-19 pill for lower income nations," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

AstraZeneca closed down 4.1%.

In the FTSE 100, Vodafone ended the best performer, up 4.8%, after the telecommunications firm slightly raised its annual outlook after a first half revenue improvement, helped by decent trading in Germany.

In the six months to September 30, revenue improved 5.0% year-on-year to EUR22.49 billion from EUR21.43 billion. Service revenue alone was 2.8% higher annually at EUR19.01 billion. Pretax profit, however, dropped 34% to EUR1.28 billion from EUR1.47 billion a year earlier. Vodafone posted EUR108 million in "other expenses", swinging from a EUR1.06 billion gain a year prior.

Adjusted Ebitda after leases - which doesn't include the 'other' charge - grew by 7.9% to EUR7.57 billion from EUR7.01 billion, a 6.5% rise on an organic basis.

Vodafone narrowed its full-year adjusted Ebitda after leases guidance to EUR15.2 billion to EUR15.4 billion, the top end of its prior range of EUR15.0 billion to EUR15.4 billion. Adjusted free cash flow guidance was upgraded to at least EUR5.3 billion, from at least EUR5.2 billion.

Land Securities closed up 3.7% after the commercial property company raised its dividend as it swung to profit in the first half of its current financial year.

The London-based company reported a 2.7% increase in EPRA net tangible assets per share to 1,012 pence as at the end of September from 985p at March 31.

LandSec swung to a pretax profit of GBP275 million from a loss of GBP835 million a year ago. The company increased its dividend to 15.5p per share from 12.0p paid a year earlier. Rival British Land ended up 3.1% in a positive read-across.

Diageo ended up 1.2% after the distiller set out new medium term growth guidance as it looks to lift its market share by the end of the decade.

The Johnnie Walker scotch maker is targeting annual organic net sales growth in the range of 5% and 7% between the 2023 and 2025 financial years. For the year ended June 30, Diageo's net sales rose 8.3% on a reported basis to GBP12.73 billion. Organically, they jumped 16%.

Organic operating profit is seen rising in the the range of 6% to 9% annually between financial 2023 and financial 2025. For the first half of the current year, Diageo expects net sales growth of at least 16%. The organic operating profit growth rate will top this, it added.

Conversely, Imperial Brands lost 1.8%. The tobacco company lifted its dividend as the Bristol, England-based cigarette maker saw benefits from a new strategy during its recently ended financial year.

Revenue rose 0.7% to GBP32.79 billion in the financial year to September 30, lifted by increases in excise duty, and pretax profit improved by 49% to GBP3.24 billion from GBP2.17 billion.

Organic net revenue - which excludes the divestment of Premium Cigar division - grew 1.4%, driven by tobacco growth of 1.5% while next generation product sales fell 3.9%, reflecting market exits.

Imperial Brands raised its dividend by 1.0% to 139.08 pence from 137.7p paid a year prior.

In the FTSE 250, Restaurant Group ended the standout performer, up 17%, after the casual dining chain owner raised full-year earnings expectations after strong trading in recent weeks. It noted a "minor improvement" in UK airport passenger volumes, leading to a partial recovery in sales run rates for its Concessions business.

As a result of recent robust trading, the Wagamama and Frankie & Benny's owner now expects full-year adjusted Ebitda in a range of GBP73 million to GBP79 million.

At the end of the mid-caps, Genuit closed down 5.8%. The water, climate and ventilation systems manufacturer said it expects profit for 2021 to meet consensus expectations following a strong start, but warned of ongoing cost inflation and continued supply chain issues.

For 2021 as a whole, Genuit expects earnings before interest and tax - or operating profit - to meet consensus expectations, which range from GBP92.5 million to GBP95.9 million. However, Genuit warned that although it has continued to attempt to counter cost inflation during the second half of the year, operating margin will be lower than in the first half.

The pound was quoted at USD1.3430 at the London equities close, firm from USD1.3428 at the close Monday, as upbeat UK labour market data augmented the case for an interest rate hike from the Bank of England next month.

The jobless rate eased more-than-forecast to 4.3% in the three months to September from 4.5% for the three months to August. The latest reading beat the market forecast, cited by FXStreet, of 4.4%.

The ONS said it estimates there were 29.3 million payrolled employees in October, up 160,000 on September. This was also 235,000 higher than February 2020's level, so payrolled employees are above pre-virus levels.

Meanwhile, job vacancies in August to October rose to a new record of 1.2 million.

The latest jobs data, as well as a UK inflation reading on Wednesday, will be closely watched after the Bank of England's unexpected decision earlier this month to hold interest rates against a backdrop of rising inflation.

Jesus Cabra Guisasola, an associate at Validus Risk Management, said: "This data will put further pressure on the BoE and members of the MPC to make a decision around rising interest rates as Governor Andrew Bailey recently mentioned that the only missing economic data was how the UK labour market would react after the end of the furlough program.

"It will be important to see the next jobs report which will contain official data on the employment and unemployment rates for October and, crucially, will be released just two days before the BoE's decision in December."

The euro was priced at USD1.1347 at the European equities close, down from USD1.1420 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY114.50, up sharply from JPY113.95.

Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close following positive US retail sales figures.

The DJIA was up 0.3%, the S&P 500 index up 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%.

US retail and food services sales grew 1.7% month-on-month in October, more than double from September's 0.8% rise. The latest reading beat expectations for 1.4% growth.

On the corporate front, Walmart was down 2.7% as the retail store chain raised its earnings guidance for its current financial year, despite a plunge in profit in the third quarter.

For the three months ended October 31, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based big-box retailer posted a pretax profit of USD4.14 billion, down 42% from USD7.12 billion in the same period a year prior. Diluted earnings per share for the period fell 38% to USD1.11 from USD1.80 a year before.

Brent oil was quoted at USD82.00 a barrel at the equities close, up from USD81.35 at the close Monday.

Gold stood at USD1,858.07 an ounce at the London equities close, soft against USD1,860.70 late Monday.

The economic events calendar on Wednesday has UK and eurozone inflation readings at 0700 GMT and 1000 GMT respectively.

"Investors will be keeping their ears to the ground for CPI figures tomorrow at 7:00am. If this figure is higher than the expected 3.9%, it will likely lead to UK markets seeing another poor day of trading," said Spreadex's Oliver Males.

The UK corporate calendar on Wednesday has annual results from accounting software provider Sage Group. There are also interim results from property firm British Land, energy company SSE and credit checking agency Experian.

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.