Confirmation Donald Trump has pulled off one of the biggest election upsets of all time to win the US presidency sees the FTSE 100 retreat 0.8% to 6,786.74.
Earlier futures markets had pointed to a 4% plunge, suggesting investors are starting to digest the shock result after Trump adopted a conciliatory tone in his acceptance speech.
The news is a double whammy for the FTSE 100 as it delivers plenty of the uncertainty which markets hate while at the same time prompting a slide in the dollar which hits the companies on the index which derive their revenue in that currency.
All the major commodities are also on the move with US West Texas Intermediate oil prices down 1.3% and traditional safe haven gold up 3.5%.
Pharma stocks and miners of precious metals are rare winners in a sea of red. Hochschild Mining (HOC) up 6% to 279.9p and Centamin (CEY) gaining 8.9% to 168.2p.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) is up 4.9% to £17.45, AstraZeneca (AZN) up 3.1% to £45.89 and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) up 2.5% to £15.96, as the risk of price controls threatened by a Clinton administration recedes.
US focused promotional products provider 4imprint (FOUR), down 9.7% to £14.99, is a notable small cap faller given its potential exposure to a Trump-inspired downturn across the pond.
Keep reading the website for more on the running market reaction to Trump’s win but there is some corporate news to address today.
Investors should arguably have regarded the timing of interim results from Experian (EXPN), Sainsbury’s (SBRY), Burberry (BRBY) and SSE (SSE) with some trepidation given today was always likely to have been a good day to bury bad news.
Supermarket Sainsbury’s is down 4.6% to 243.8p (for context rival Tesco is off 3.2%) as it reports underlying pre-tax profit for the first half down 10.1% year-on-year. The company says it will seek £500m worth of cost savings as it warns of cost inflation.
Credit agency Experian falls 4.2% to £14.54 despite delivering organic revenue growth of 5%, in line with management’s targeted range.
Luxury outfit Burberry is down 2.5% to £14.45 as it posts a 4% fall in pre-tax profit on ebbing demand in key markets such as Hong Kong, although the drop was roughly in line with expectations it would have been 24% were it not for a currency tailwind.
Utility SSE falls a more modest 1.2% to £15.58 as publishes results roughly in line with expectations and ups its dividend by 1.9%.
