Commodities drive fall as FTSE outperformed by European peers
London’s top flight moved 0.22%, or 17.32 points, lower to finish at 7,929.79.
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Your support makes all the difference.The FTSE 100 suffered a poor session compared with its European counterparts to close lower on Monday.
Weak performances for commodity stocks dragged on the index, although it finished above intra-day lows following a steady improvement during the afternoon.
London’s top flight moved 0.22%, or 17.32 points, lower to finish at 7,929.79.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: “It’s been a positive start to the week for markets in Europe, with the notable exception of the FTSE 100, which is being dragged lower by basic resources after China set a 5% GDP growth for this year, down from last year’s 5.5% target, which it missed by a large margin.
“This lower-than-expected target has hit metals prices with declines in the price of copper and iron ore, which is weighing on the likes of Anglo-American, Glencore and Rio Tinto.”
The slump also came despite strong construction sector PMI data for February, which highlighted a surprise return to significant growth amid hopes that a possible recession may be avoided.
It’s been a positive start to the week for markets in Europe, with the notable exception of the FTSE 100, which is being dragged lower by basic resources after China set a 5% GDP growth for this year, down from last year’s 5.5% target, which it missed by a large margin
Elsewhere, Europe’s other main markets finished higher amid a number of other better-than-expected economic reports, driving the Dax towards its highest close price for a year.
The German Dax rose by 0.49%, and the French Cac 40 increased by 0.34% at close.
In the US, the main markets continued their recent positive spell as bond yields continued to sit below recent peaks.
Meanwhile, sterling struggled despite the encouraging construction sector data.
The pound was flat at 1.204 US dollars, and down by 0.45% to 1.126 euros at market close in London.
In company news, shares in Capita gained after it agreed a £21 million deal to sell its human resourcing businesses.
The firm said it will offload Capita Resourcing, HR Solutions and ThirtyThree to London-based private equity firm Inspirit Capital as it presses ahead with a plan to focus on key divisions and cut its debt.
Capita finished the day up 3.52p at 42.64p.
Elsewhere, shares in Aston Martin leapt on Monday, gaining further after posting a strong revenue rise.
The improvement in its shares during the day was linked to short-sellers being squeezed out, as well as a surprise podium finish for Fernando Alonso and the Aston Martin Racing team at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Shares in Aston Martin closed up 36.1p at 276.1p.
Ocado dropped in value after Morgan Stanley cut its price target on the business over concerns about the deliverability of customer fulfilment centres, after its US partner Kroger said it would not be rolling out any more centres in 2023.
The online grocery business was down 20.4p at 529.8p.
The price of oil edged lower after the Chinese government launched its unambitious economic growth target.
Brent crude increased by 0.3% to 85.57 US dollars (£71.04) per barrel when the London markets closed.
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 were Flutter Entertainment, up 615p at 13,975p, Land Securities, up 22.2p at 683.6p, Airtel Africa, up 3.6p at 125.2p, BT, up 3.9p at 148.75p, and Next, up 178p at 7,076p.
The biggest fallers of the session were Beazley, down 32.5p at 610.5p, Glencore, 20.5p at 502.5p, Ocado, down 20.4p at 529.8p, Anglo American, down 111p at 2,931.5p, and Rio Tinto, down 172p at 5,972p.