The human tragedy unfolding in the Middle East continued to impact financial markets on Thursday as the FTSE 100 fell with global equities.
The FTSE 100 was down 1% at the time of writing on Thursday.
“Worries about an escalation of violence in the Middle East weighed on stocks around the world. US markets experienced a troubled session last night and negativity spread across Europe and Asia on Thursday,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“Unsurprisingly, investors are flocking to supposed safe-haven or defensive assets including insurers and gold which neared a two-month high. Energy stocks were also in vogue as oil prices held firm above $90 per barrel amid fears that Middle Eastern oil supplies could be disrupted by the Israel-Hamas war. A big drawdown on US crude oil inventories has also given support to the oil price this week.”
Risk assets had held up well during the first days of the latest conflict in the Middle East, but the threat of violence increasing across the region has rightly hit sentiment over the past few trading sessions.
FTSE 100 movers
Rentokil Initial shares were exterminated by some investors on Thursday after lower operating profit margins in their key North American business. Shares in the company were down around 20% at the time of writing.
Rightmove shares were having a tough time after a US group agreed on a takeover of rival OnTheMarket. One would expect the new owners to pump cash into OnTheMarket in an attempt to steal market share from Rightmove.
OneTheMarket generated revenues of around £16.8m in their first half, while Rightmove generated in the region of £170m over a similar period.
The London Stock Exchange Group rose 2% after announcing gross profit increased 4.5% in last quarter’s trading.