FTSE 100 breaks with European gains to post loss

Without the spring in its step to match the weather and other indexes in Europe, the FTSE 100 dipped slightly on Monday.

Kicking off a week of shorter trading as markets will be closed for Friday’s bank holiday, the index was pulled down by gambling and housebuilding companies.

Bottom of the pile was Flutter Entertainment, the owner of Paddy Power and Betfair, with Ladbrokes owner Entain, which had its bid for Australia’s Tabcorp rejected on Monday, also dropping.

Builders Persimmon and Barratt Development were also firmly in the red even as analyst at JP Morgan increased the prices they thought the companies’ shares should trade at.

The FTSE 100’s 0.1% fall, by 4.4 points to 6,736, with its better-performing peers on the continent.

The Cac in Paris, and Frankfurt’s Dax both rose by 0.5%.

“It’s been a pretty positive day, with the FTSE100 lagging behind its European peers, with the Dax looking to close back in on its intramonth record highs led by automakers BMW and Volkswagen leading the way higher,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

“In the UK it’s more of a mixed bag with the FTSE100 more or less flat on the day, with consumer staples outperforming led by Reckitt Benckiser and BT Group, while on the downside housebuilders are the primary drags, despite a positive update on the sector from JPMorgan.”

Sterling bought 1.3796 dollars by the end of the day, unchanged on prior prices.

A pound could also buy 1.1712 euro, up 0.1%.

The price of Brent oil fell by 0.3% to 64.38 dollars per barrel.

The two main US indexes were in the red, with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and the Dow Jones losing 0.1% by the time markets had closed in Europe.

In London’s company news was dominated by listings.

Cazoo, a UK online car seller, said it plans to list its shares in New York, targeting a valuation of around £5 billion.

The news pushed up shares in Daily Mail and General Trust, which was an early investor in Cazoo, by nearly 8%.

Deliveroo provided the second listing news item. Just a week after saying it was targeting a value of up to £8.8 billion when it lists in London, the delivery company downgraded its upper target to £7.85 billion.

“This lower ceiling appears to be a natural consequence of a number of high-profile investors going cold on the idea of investing in a business which they aren’t completely convinced will turn a profit any time soon,” Mr Hewson said.

“Concerns over working conditions for its riders have been cited as one of the reasons for the reluctance to invest, however there are probably a number of others.”

AJ Bell said it would beat market expectations for its revenue in the year ending 2021 by around £6 million, sending its shares up 1.7%.

Domino’s Pizza Group sold its Iceland business for around £14 million.

Shares rose 0.9%.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Renishaw, up 250p to 6250p, Reckitt Benckiser, up 192p to 6564p, BT, up 4.35p to 152.4p, United Utilities, up 19.4p to 926.8p, and Severn Trent, up 43p to 2342p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Flutter Entertainment, down 545p to 15935p, Persimmon, down 94p to 2927p, Smiths Group, down 47.5p to 1512.5p, Entain, down 44.5p to 1510p, and Barratt Development, down 21p to 749.6p.