London open: Stocks fall after hawkish Fed minutes

(Sharecast News) - London stocks fell in early trade on Thursday as investors mulled the latest minutes from the US Federal Reserve, which suggested that more rate hikes were on the cards. At 0835 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.8% at 7,384.61.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: "After three sessions of declines for the FTSE 100, the UK blue chip index has opened in the red again, breaking below support at 7,400.

"Treasury yields and the US dollar made gains after minutes from the Fed's June meeting suggested further tightening is to come from. The FOMC minutes were largely interpreted as hawkish by the markets, even though the pace of tightening is likely to slow, and rates were left unchanged last month. The central bank said the economy faces 'headwinds from tighter credit conditions'."

In equity markets, online supermarket Ocado was under the cosh after Morgan Stanley cut its price target on the shares to 390p from 430p ahead of first-half results.

Electrical retailer Currys tanked after it pulled its final dividend, citing an uncertain outlook as annual profits fell due to its poorly-performing Nordics division but came in at the top end of guidance.

Office provider Workspace was in the red despite reporting reported a rise in first-quarter rents, driven by resilient demand, as it traded without entitlement to the dividend. Next and JD Sports were also ex-dividend.

In other broker note action, RBC Capital Markets upgraded Smiths Group to 'sector perform' from 'underperform'.

JPMorgan upgraded Smurfit Kappa and Mondi to 'overweight' from 'neutral'.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,384.61 -0.77% FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,263.98 -0.70% techMARK (TASX) 4,363.44 -0.51%

FTSE 100 - Risers

United Utilities Group (UU.) 958.80p 2.79% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,491.00p 1.67% Mondi (MNDI) 1,233.00p 0.65% Centrica (CNA) 123.80p 0.61% National Grid (NG.) 1,031.00p 0.34% Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 2,654.00p 0.23% Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,068.00p 0.19% Sage Group (SGE) 909.60p 0.13% SSE (SSE) 1,791.00p 0.08% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 278.80p -0.04%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 548.00p -4.43% Next (NXT) 6,750.00p -2.93% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 157.70p -2.86% Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,008.00p -2.48% Abrdn (ABDN) 214.90p -2.18% Glencore (GLEN) 448.00p -2.17% M&G (MNG) 183.90p -2.13% Persimmon (PSN) 994.80p -2.04% Standard Chartered (STAN) 672.40p -1.95% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 100.20p -1.91%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Senior (SNR) 175.00p 2.82% CMC Markets (CMCX) 156.00p 1.83% Drax Group (DRX) 584.00p 1.60% Pennon Group (PNN) 698.00p 1.31% BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 368.50p 0.82% FirstGroup (FGP) 146.60p 0.76% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 572.50p 0.70% BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 609.00p 0.66% Great Portland Estates (GPE) 436.00p 0.65% NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited Red (NESF) 94.65p 0.58%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Currys (CURY) 48.06p -10.08% Workspace Group (WKP) 476.60p -3.72% JTC (JTC) 691.00p -3.36% Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 519.50p -3.26% easyJet (EZJ) 484.20p -3.06% Big Yellow Group (BYG) 1,056.00p -3.03% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,695.00p -2.92% TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 581.50p -2.84% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 91.70p -2.55% Primary Health Properties (PHP) 95.40p -2.30%