FTSE 100 Falls in Early Trade as Rio Tinto Leads Miners Lower

FTSE 100 Falls in Early Trade as Rio Tinto Leads Miners Lower

0902 GMT - The FTSE 100 index falls 0.2% in early trade, led down by heavyweight mining and oil stocks. Rio Tinto is the biggest faller, down 1.5%, after it agreed to buy the Rincon lithium project in Argentina from Rincon Mining for $825 million. Other miners follow suit, with BHP down 0.8% and Anglo American down 0.5%, while marginally lower oil prices weigh on oil stocks. Gains for property companies and pharmaceuticals help temper the FTSE 100's losses, however. Equity markets are likely to be volatile over the year-end holidays due to thinning holiday volumes, Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote, says. ([e-mail])

 
Companies News: 

U.K. Watchdog Says Taylor Wimpey Agreed to Remove Terms for Doubling Ground Rent Clauses

The Competition and Markets Authority said Wednesday that home builder Taylor Wimpey PLC is removing doubling ground rent terms from leasehold contracts after receiving enforcement action in September 2020.

---

Pennon Says U.K. Competition Regulator to Pursue Phase 2 Review on Deal for Bristol Water

Pennon Group PLC said Wednesday that the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has confirmed its intention to pursue a Phase 2 merger review regarding the company's acquisition of Bristol Water Holdings UK Ltd.

---

Land Securities Buys Additional 25% Stake in Bluewater Shopping Mall for GBP172M

Land Securities Group PLC said Wednesday it has acquired an additional 25% stake in shopping mall Bluewater for 172 million pounds ($228.2 million).

---

Parsley Box's Shares Fall on Outlook Warning Over Omicron Variant

Shares in Parsley Box Group PLC on Wednesday fell after the company warned about its ability to continue managing customer-service levels due to the effects of the Omicron variant despite also saying that it expects to post growth in its full-year results.

---

Anglo American Says De Beers Rough Diamond Sales for 10th Cycle Were $332 Mln

Anglo American PLC said Wednesday that rough diamond sales for De Beers's 10th sales cycle of 2021 were $332 million.

---

Croda International to Sell Majority of Performance Technologies and Industrial Chemicals for EUR915 Mln

Croda International PLC said Wednesday that it has signed a definitive agreement with Cargill Velocity Holdings Ltd. to sell the majority of its Performance Technologies and Industrial Chemicals businesses for an enterprise value of 915 million euros ($1.03 billion).

---

Good Energy Shares Fall After a Further GBP3 Mln Hit to FY 2021 Is Expected

Shares in Good Energy Group PLC fell Wednesday after the company said it expects a further 3 million-pound ($4.0 million) hit to its fiscal 2021 results due to unfavorable weather conditions.

---

K3 Business Technology 2H Performance in Line With Expectations

K3 Business Technology Group PLC said Wednesday that its performance for the second half of fiscal 2021 has been in line with management expectations, boosted by a strong fashion and apparel business.

---

Camellia Sees 2021 Underlying Pretax Profit Above Market Views

Camellia PLC said Wednesday that it expects underlying pretax profit for 2021 to be substantially above market expectations due to improved margins for a number of its agricultural businesses and rigorous cost-saving measures.

---

Avacta Group Gets CE Mark for Covid-19 Antigen Test; Shares Rise

Shares in Avacta Group PLC rose Wednesday after the company said its Covid-19 antigen lateral flow test has received a CE mark for use as a consumer self-test in the U.K. and the European Union.

---

Scotgold Resources FY 2021 Pretax Loss Widened; Ramps Up Production

Scotgold Resources Ltd. said Wednesday its pretax loss for fiscal 2021 doubled, as the company ramps up production at its Cononish gold and silver mine in Scotland.

 
Market Talk: 

U.K. Is Still Among G-7's Hardest-Hit Economies

0901 GMT - Even before the emergence of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, the U.K. economy was struggling to recover fully, Pantheon Macroeconomics' senior U.K. economist Gabriella Dickens says. The 1.5% shortfall in GDP from its fourth-quarter 2019 peak remains one of the largest in the G-7, as it is below the 1.0% shortfall in Germany or the 0.1% shortfall in France, Dickens says. Omicron is hitting the economy hard and now Pantheon expects quarter-over-quarter GDP growth to drop to 0.6% in 4Q and to 0.0% in 1Q 2022, largely because of a contraction in output in certain consumer-facing services. "Even without Omicron, the economy still will have struggled for momentum," Dickens says. ([e-mail])

UK 10Y Gilt Yields Steady Despite Downward Revision to 3Q Growth

0836 GMT - U.K. borrowing costs over a 10-year period continue to trade at the highest levels since early December, as a second official estimate shows growth slowed in the third quarter of this year. Gross domestic product grew by a revised 1.1% over the third quarter, down from the previous estimate of 1.3% and undershooting expectations for a steady reading. "The downward revision to GDP in 3Q means the economy had a little less momentum going into the closing months of the year than we previously thought," says Bethany Beckett, U.K. economist at Capital Economics. GDP growth looks to have slowed also in the fourth quarter as Omicron infections weigh on activity, she says. The 10-year gilt yield trades at 0.773% from 0.776% Tuesday, according to Tradeweb. ([e-mail])

Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires; Write to Sarka Halas at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-22-21 0421ET