FTSE 100: Market remains in the red

The FTSE 100 is trading down 36.71 points on Monday afternoon at 7,078.63 (1511GMT).

Fall in Pound

Following a weekend of Brexit related headlines, with the resignation of transport minister Jo Johnson, the pound fell to an 11-day low.

“We expect the pound to be in for a rough ride, especially if Theresa May attempts to force her Brexit plan through. For there is growing opposition within her own government. There is a good chance that she may not come out the other side,” said Jasper Lawler, who is the head of research at London Capital Group.

British American Tobacco

Shares in British American Tobacco (LON: BATS) and Imperial Brands (LON: IMB) slid 11% and 3% respectively after US regulators announced plans to crack down on e-cigarette and menthol sales.

The fall in shares price wiped £7 billion from British American Tobacco’s market value. Shares in the group have plunged almost 40% over the past year.

Michael Hewson, who is the chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, “Against that backdrop the company has warned that revenues from its smoking alternative products are likely to miss expectations for this year, due to a slowdown in Japan for vaping products.”

“Despite this slowdown, revenue from vaping is still expected to rise by more than 10%, however, the company has warned that adverse currency shifts will hurt its full-year numbers by about 7%, as management look to justify falling short of expectations. This seems a rather high number given how stable currencies have been the past few months.”

Shares in British American Tobacco are currently trading -9.70%, shares in Imperial Brands are trading -2.96% (1504GMT).

Anglo African Agriculture

Helping to boost the Small cap index on Tuesday was Anglo African Agriculture (LON: AAAP), where shares rallied over 60% on Monday morning following the group’s trading update.

“I am delighted that we have completed our due diligence and decided to advance this loan to Comarco. This transaction and funding will allow them to fully capture the recent upswing in its port activities and for AAA to develop our relationship,” said David Lenigas, who is the group’s Non-Executive Chairman.

“Since our announcement that we intended entering into this loan, we have been approached by numerous parties expressing their interest to cooperate with us in various forms. This is significant, as this clearly demonstrates that we have managed to find a very valuable and uniquely positioned asset with potentially very large upside potential,” he added.

Shares in the group are currently trading 22.96% (1504GMT).

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Safiya focuses on business and political stories for UK Investor Magazine. Her interests include international development, travel and politics.