London midday: Tobacco, housing stocks limit gains on FTSE

28th Nov 2013 11:42

- Thanksgiving keeps trading volumes low- Tobacco, housing stocks drop on government policy- German unemployment climbs for fourth straight monthtechMARK 2,668.59 +0.37%FTSE 100 6,658.85 +0.14%FTSE 250 15,434.40 +0.18%UK investors were treading water on Thursday morning as risk appetite remained subdued on what looks like a quiet day for financial markets across Europe.The FTSE 100 was trading little changed from its closing price of 6,649.47 on Wednesday, with analysts citing low trading volumes given that Wall Street is closed for the Thanksgiving holidays.Meanwhile, upside in London was being limited in morning trade by heavy falls in the tobacco and housing sectors on the back of changes to UK government policy.Markets across the globe performed well on Wednesday after a deluge of economic data from the US, which included a surprise fall in jobless claims, a jump in consumer confidence along with improvements in Chicago manufacturing activity and the leading indicators index.However, with no data from the States due today and very little out from the UK, the focus was on economic indicators from the Eurozone this morning.Figures from Germany showed that unemployment in Europe's largest economy rose to its highest level since April 2011. The number of people out of work climbed for the fourth straight month in November, up 10,000 to 2.985m, much worse than the 1,000 increase expected by analysts.Meanwhile, the final reading of Eurozone consumer confidence came in at -15.4 for November, in line with the initial estimate but below the -14.5 recorded in October.Tobacco, housing stocks sold offInvestors in Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco were feeling a bit under the weather today after reports that the UK government will announce a U-turn on plain cigarette packaging. David Cameron is expected to unveil a fresh review into plain packaging to examine new evidence on whether the measure will discourage young smokers.Housing stocks were also under pressure after the Bank of England announced it will scale back a scheme to boost mortgage lending as evidence begins to point to a housing market boom. The Funding for Lending Scheme will now focus solely on enabling greater lending to small firms that are having difficulties with borrowing as house price inflation looks set to accelerate further. Persimmon, Travis Perkins, Taylor Wimpey, Bovis Homes and Barratt Developments were all registering steep losses by midday.Rio Tinto gained after saying it will increase its mine production capacity at lower capital cost per tonne at its iron ore business in Western Australia. The miner expects mine production capacity will increase by more than 60m tonnes per year between 2014 and 2017 from a run base rate of 290m tonnes per annum by the end of the first half of 2014.Fellow miner Anglo American was also in demand after Liberum Capital upgraded its rating for the stock to 'hold'.Heading the other way was DIY retailer Kingfisher after a weak performance in France held back third-quarter retail profits. Retail profit growth came in at just 1.7%, less than analysts had forecast.Plumbing and heating products group Wolseley also disappointed with its first-quarter results as trading continues to be mixed across its key regions. The US and UK were still bolstering top-line growth, but like-for-like sales in Canada, Nordic, France and Central Europe all declined.Travel operator Thomas Cook surged after reporting a better-than-expected 49% jump in full-year operating profits as it lifted its near-term guidance for revenue and cost-cutting.FTSE 100 - RisersRio Tinto (RIO) 3,231.00p +2.93%Old Mutual (OML) 198.60p +2.37%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,218.00p +2.27%Barclays (BARC) 268.10p +2.13%Anglo American (AAL) 1,362.50p +1.79%Fresnillo (FRES) 824.50p +1.48%BAE Systems (BA.) 432.40p +1.45%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 311.35p +1.37%TUI Travel (TT.) 367.50p +1.30%Capita (CPI) 990.00p +1.28%FTSE 100 - FallersPersimmon (PSN) 1,170.00p -6.10%Kingfisher (KGF) 376.10p -5.03%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,780.00p -2.84%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,300.00p -2.58%easyJet (EZJ) 1,418.00p -1.80%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 370.40p -1.62%Wolseley (WOS) 3,351.00p -1.30%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 484.00p -1.14%Compass Group (CPG) 931.00p -0.80%Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,731.00p -0.69%FTSE 250 - RisersThomas Cook Group (TCG) 173.20p +13.05%RPS Group (RPS) 309.90p +5.70%Rank Group (RNK) 148.80p +4.42%Britvic (BVIC) 663.50p +3.35%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 19.74p +3.19%BTG (BTG) 560.00p +2.94%De La Rue (DLAR) 884.00p +2.67%Hellermanntyton Group (HTY) 297.60p +2.62%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 595.00p +2.59%Cairn Energy (CNE) 274.70p +2.50%FTSE 250 - FallersTaylor Wimpey (TW.) 107.00p -6.55%Marston's (MARS) 145.30p -6.32%Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 778.50p -5.35%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 330.00p -4.82%IP Group (IPO) 187.50p -4.77%Bellway (BWY) 1,468.00p -4.12%Galliford Try (GFRD) 1,077.00p -3.58%Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 347.10p -3.48%Redrow (RDW) 278.40p -3.47%Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,347.00p -3.42%BC