FTSE continues week-long malaise, but falls ease

Investors hoping for a bounceback after days of malaise on London’s markets were treated to a rollercoaster session on Tuesday.

The FTSE 100 finally settled at 7,187.46 after falling as low as 7,135 earlier in the day, its lowest score since March.

The 18.35 point fall, or 0.3%, follows several poor days for investors in the top index. It had previously dropped by more than 100 points on all of the last three sessions and had not posted a gain since last Monday.

“European markets initially opened higher today but have struggled to generate much in the way of upward momentum against a backdrop of concerns about a weaker economic outlook, and central banks which look set to embark on a series of aggressive moves to hike rates to contain upward pressure on inflation,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

The performance of oil majors Shell and BP, and their rival Harbour Energy have helped the index avoid the heavier falls seen in Europe.

The price of Brent crude oil rose 1.8% to 124.46 dollars per barrel.

The German Dax index dropped 0.9%, while the Cac 40 in Paris fell 1.1%.

“HSBC and Standard Chartered are also higher after a decent session from their Hong Kong listed shares, after a report from KPMG which said that Hong Kong banks are likely to see their revenues rise in 2022, due to improved interest margins,” Mr Hewson said.

“This is particularly good news for HSBC which has very thin margins.”

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was trading down 0.2% and the Dow Jones had fallen 0.4% as markets were closing in London.

Sterling had risen against its two major rivals. A pound could buy 1.2024 dollars, up 0.18%, or 1.1536 euros, a rise of 0.07%.

In company news, shares in Go-Ahead jumped nearly 17% after the business agreed to be bought by a consortium of firms.

The transport company recommended that shareholders back the bid from Australia’s Kinetic Holdings and Spanish investor Globalvia.

Staying in transport, bus and train operator FirstGroup, which last week rejected a bid of its own, reported a £6 million rise in operating profit to £226.8 million.

Shares in the company rose 1.4% after the news.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Standard Chartered, up 20.2p to 599.6p; HSBC, up 17.5p to 520.4p; Barratt Developments, up 11.5p to 487.2p; Harbour Energy, up 8.2p to 363.4p; and Taylor Wimpey, up 2.55p to 124.7p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Ocado, down 95.4p to 784.6p; Kingfisher, down 10.8p to 234.8p; Rentokil, down 20.0p to 452.4p; Ashtead, down 153.0p to 3,651p; and SSE, down 67.0p to 1,641.5p.