London midday: Stocks off lows but NatWest sinks after results

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still in the red but off earlier lows by midday on Friday, with sentiment hit by disappointing earnings from Apple and Amazon in the US.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 7,225.48.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Underwhelming corporate news on both sides of the Atlantic saw the FTSE 100 get off to a sluggish start on Friday.

"For now investors appear to have shrugged off a long list of concerns taking in Chinese property, inflation, Covid, a fully blown supply chain crisis and an increase in interest rates, largely climbing this wall of worry in recent weeks.

"The next key test of the market's mountaineering skills could come next Wednesday as the US Federal Reserve is widely expected to begin tapering its financial stimulus and the Bank of England potentially looking to raise rates.

"Those with memories of the taper tantrum sparked by former Fed chair Ben Bernanke's decision to start scaling back support for the economy in 2013 may be eyeing the first date with some trepidation.

"However, the Fed has done a better job this time of trailing its move well in advance so investors can't claim they weren't forewarned."

In UK equity markets, NatWest Bank slumped despite reporting a surge in third-quarter profits as it released £242m set aside to cover bad loans during the Covid crisis. The bank said operating pre-tax profits rose to £1.07bn from £355m a year ago, but lower than the £1.5bn in the second quarter.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Having seen decent numbers from Lloyds and Barclays, expectations were high for NatWest Group's Q3 numbers today.

"NatWest share price has been a notable outperformer so far this year, its shares up over 35%, and at 20-month highs, so the bar was quite high for today's Q3 numbers, and quite frankly the market reaction has been a little underwhelming."

Medical equipment maker Smith & Nephew was also weaker after US peer Stryker cautioned that staffing issues and rising Covid cases were holding back a recovery in medical procedures.

Miniature wargames manufacturer Games Workshop tanked after Jefferies cut its estimates to reflect freight and FX challenges.

On the upside, medical products company ConvaTec rallied as it said full-year organic revenue growth was set to be towards the upper end of its guidance range after an in-line third-quarter, which saw sales slow from the second quarter.

Banks - aside from NatWest - were doing well, with Lloyds, Barclays and Standard Chartered all higher.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,225.48 -0.33%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,098.31 -0.44%
techMARK (TASX) 4,543.03 -0.69%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Darktrace (DARK) 790.00p 1.35%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 50.18p 1.21%
Barclays (BARC) 201.45p 1.09%
WPP (WPP) 1,055.00p 1.05%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 493.60p 1.04%
Royal Mail (RMG) 422.10p 0.98%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,788.00p 0.89%
Kingfisher (KGF) 334.00p 0.81%
ITV (ITV) 105.00p 0.72%
Glencore (GLEN) 361.70p 0.64%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 220.50p -4.71%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,238.50p -3.88%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,499.00p -2.45%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,289.00p -2.35%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,361.00p -2.09%
Rightmove (RMV) 689.40p -1.74%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,782.50p -1.74%
Halma (HLMA) 2,933.00p -1.54%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 13,790.00p -1.54%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,851.00p -1.35%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Convatec Group (CTEC) 207.70p 4.95%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 1,148.00p 2.87%
Drax Group (DRX) 544.00p 2.54%
Playtech (PTEC) 702.00p 2.41%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 264.50p 1.93%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 111.90p 1.73%
ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 1,232.00p 1.65%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 150.50p 1.48%
Synthomer (SYNT) 501.50p 1.48%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 1,701.50p 1.34%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Games Workshop Group (GAW) 9,740.00p -6.79%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 325.20p -3.62%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 227.00p -2.99%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 317.20p -2.64%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 255.50p -2.48%
Computacenter (CCC) 2,686.00p -2.47%
Chemring Group (CHG) 287.00p -2.21%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 478.80p -2.17%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 336.80p -2.15%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 88.70p -2.10%