FTSE tumbles to lowest close in 18 months

The FTSE 100 closed at its lowest level in 18 months on Wednesday as a sell-off led by housebuilders and bank lenders followed mortgage warnings from the Bank of England

On a day of global drops, the FTSE hit its lowest point since March 2021 at one point during the day, and closed at 6,826 – the lowest since April.

The 59-point drop, which shaved 0.9% off the index’s value, came after the Bank of England warned that the proportion of mortgage holders who might face difficulty meeting payments could rise to financial-crisis levels by the end of next year.

Lloyds, the biggest mortgage lender in the country, ended down nearly 6%, while housebuilders Persimmon and Barratt Developments sank by more than 5% each.

Barratt itself had warned of the market outlook earlier in the day.

“It’s been another negative session for European markets with continued uncertainty about the economic outlook, and higher interest rates dampening sentiment, with the rise in UK gilt yields affecting the FTSE 100 especially with banks and housebuilders feeling the draught the most,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC.

“It’s not been a great year for UK housebuilders, they are amongst the worst performers year to date on the FTSE 100, with losses in excess of 50%, largely on the basis that a higher interest rate environment is likely to put the sector under pressure on sales.

“Today’s warning today by Barratt Developments about a ‘less certain’ outlook hasn’t helped, sending its shares to its lowest levels since late 2013 after it reported that average private reservations fell to 188 per week, down from 281 a year ago.”

European markets also came under pressure on Wednesday, with the Dax closing down 0.4% and the Cac 40 dropping 0.3%.

In New York, traders were happier, with the S&P 500 trading 0.4% in the green and the Dow Jones up 0.6% shortly after markets closed in London.

After falling earlier in the day, the pound made up some lost ground and was trading at a little under 1.11 dollars around market close in Europe.

In company news, Pepco – the business behind Poundland – said that revenue grew 17% to 4.8 billion euros (£4.3 billion) in the year to September.

Customers are going to the business’s budget offerings as they tighten their belts. Poundland alone – which makes up a little under half of Pepco’s total – saw revenue up 5%.

Elsewhere, recruiter PageGroup said that the global jobs market has slowed down somewhat in recent months.

The confidence of its clients has softened slightly in the third quarter of the year, it said. Roles are being withdrawn and hiring is taking longer as fears of a global recession set in.

Shares rose 1.5%.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Rentokil Initial, up 12.5p to 486p, British American Tobacco, up 41p to 3,320p, Astrazeneca, up 110p to 9,935p, Diageo, up 36p to 3,697.5p, and Pershing Square Holdings, up 15p to 2,650p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were JD Sports Fashion, down 10.26p to 89.2p, Persimmon, down 75p to 1,138.5p, Lloyds Banking Group, down 2.41p to 39.09p, Harbour Energy, down 22.5p to 400.9p, and B&M European Value Retail, down 16.2p to 296.9p.