London open: Airlines, miners push markets into the red

(Sharecast News) - UK equity markets retreated slightly on Friday morning as the recent festive rally ran out of steam, with airline stocks and miners providing a drag early on. The FTSE 100 was trading 0.1% lower at 8,253 after the first hour of trade, following a 1.1% jump to 8,260.09 on Thursday - its highest close since 16 December - having gained in five of the past six sessions.

On the docket for Friday are a number of important economic indicators worldwide, with few blue-chip corporate announcements expected. In focus will be unemployment statistics in Germany, lending and consumer credit figures in the UK and the ISM manufacturing index in the US.

Airlines flying lower

Budget airline Wizz Air fell after underwhelming with a 1.9% year-on-year increase in passenger numbers for December, with capacity declining as it continued to ground aircraft due to problems with Pratt & Whitney engines.

Sector peers easyJet and IAG were also out of favour, with a near-2% surge in oil prices the previous session unlikely helping matters. Brent crude was down 0.2% at $75.78 a barrel in morning trade, after hitting a two-month high on Thursday.

"Brent Crude is hovering around $76 a barrel, having gained around 5% in a week," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. "A bigger-than-expected drawdown of oil stocks in the US and hopes for a fresh stimulus boost for the energy hungry Chinese economy are behind the push higher in crude prices."

Unsurprisingly, energy giants BP and Shell were among the best performers on the FTSE 100, while Harbour Energy gained on the FTSE 250.

Meanwhile, mining stocks were pulling back after a decent performance the previous day, with Antofagasta, Ferrexpo and Anglo American among the heaviest fallers.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,252.97 -0.09% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,570.19 -0.34% techMARK (TASX) 4,628.31 -0.33%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Airtel Africa (AAF) 118.90p 1.54% Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,610.00p 0.93% BP (BP.) 406.60p 0.86% Vodafone Group (VOD) 69.44p 0.81% Unite Group (UTG) 818.00p 0.80% Shell (SHEL) 2,547.00p 0.79% British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,966.00p 0.47% Tesco (TSCO) 374.30p 0.43% Unilever (ULVR) 4,608.00p 0.39% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 276.80p 0.36%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

easyJet (EZJ) 546.00p -2.05% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 20,520.00p -1.82% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,587.00p -1.67% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 297.80p -1.59% Entain (ENT) 684.00p -1.55% Melrose Industries (MRO) 547.00p -1.51% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 7,456.00p -1.40% Anglo American (AAL) 2,349.00p -1.36% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 981.20p -1.21% Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 429.40p -1.20%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 323.10p 2.51% W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 81.60p 2.00% Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 2,600.00p 1.56% Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 130.00p 1.25% Asia Dragon Trust (DGN) 430.00p 1.18% Pacific Horizon Inv Trust (PHI) 577.00p 1.05% Harbour Energy (HBR) 262.90p 0.84% Coats Group (COA) 94.60p 0.64% Pets at Home Group (PETS) 204.80p 0.59% JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 1,068.00p 0.56%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 81.50p -3.55% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,374.00p -2.97% Kainos Group (KNOS) 770.00p -2.90% Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 3,765.00p -2.71% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 83.80p -2.67% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 106.00p -2.57% Foresight Environmental Infrastructure Limited (FGEN) 72.10p -2.57% North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 3,610.00p -2.43% Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited Ptg NPV (FEML) 684.80p -2.39% Indivior (INDV) 982.00p -2.19%