Financial fears offset by pleasing earnings

The FTSE 100 index closed flat on Tuesday as banks continued to suffer investors' nerves but a number of pleasing earnings reports buoyed stocks elsewhere

Holly Cook | 21-04-09 | E-mail Article

UK indices felt the pressure for a second day running on Tuesday and once again it was the financial sector applying that pressure as jittery investors struggled to see beyond industry concerns renewed by Bank of America on Monday.

The FTSE 100 index managed to push through the 4,000-point mark in earlier deals but ended the day little changed, having lost 3.4 points or 0.1% to close at 3,987.5. The FTSE 250 industry put in a similarly lacklustre performance, sliding 29.4 points or 0.4% to 6,987.3.

Wall Street investors were slightly more sanguine, keeping US market performances closer to breakeven at last check, albeit on both sides of the fence.

Ahead of tomorrow’s budget announcement, figures released today revealed retail price inflation fell into the negative for the first time in almost 50 years, although analysts warned that talk of deflation was unnecessary hype, particularly since part of the RPI’s decline was a result of the Bank of England’s interest rate cuts over the past six months.

The March reading of RPI fell to -0.4% on the year, while the housing component dropped 10.3% year-on-year.

Amongst equity movements, mirroring the previous day’s market, Eurasian Natural Resources ended the session in pole position as bargain-hunters bought into the stock following Monday’s fall. ENRC was 8.3% higher at 550p by the UK close. Other mining sector plays remained in the red, however, on the back of weaker metals prices.

Also in favour after poor performances at the start of the week were Thomas Cook and TUI Travel—both stocks were hit yesterday amid fears hoped-for bid developments may not emerge. Thomas Cook closed up 3.4% at 261.25p; TUI Travel added 1.7% at 257.5p.

Another top performer was supermarkets giant Tesco, which took on 4.9% to 348.3p after bucking the economic downturn to report underlying profit growth of 10% over the past year, bringing the total to a record for the company of £3.1 billion.

Competitors were cheered by the news, taking Sainsbury’s shares 1.6% higher to 311.25p and Morrison Supermarkets’ up 0.6% to 243p, while players from the broader retail industry also gained—Home Retail Group ticked up 2.0% to 256p.

Sticking with earnings news, Associated British Foods was 4.9% ahead at 646p following a pleasing set of first half figures, and GlaxoSmithKline rose 1.7% to 1,051p ahead of its own results tomorrow. Click here to read our take on Glaxo’s latest news.

On the flip side, it was very clear who was applying the main weight to the FTSE 100: insurers and banking stocks made up nine of the bottom ten index performers, with Aviva, Prudential, Legal & General and Old Mutual each dropping between 4% and 8%, while Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays fell back 5%-9%.

The financial sector was still reeling from Monday’s announcement of a large increase in troubled loans at Bank of America. Today’s dividend cut from Bank of New York Mellon naturally did little to assuage investor fear.

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Holly Cook is Site Editor of Morningstar.co.uk and Hemscott.com. She would like to hear from you but cannot give financial advice. You can contact the author via this feedback form.
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