London open: Ex-div stocks sink markets early on

17th Apr 2013 08:47

The FTSE 100 was in the red for the fourth straight day on Wednesday as a number of ex-dividend stocks provided a drag on London's benchmark index.Global growth concerns have weighed on markets over the last few days after a surprise slowdown was reported in China in the first quarter. These fears were compounded yesterday when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised lower its forecasts for global economic growth, cutting estimates for the UK, US, Eurozone and China.Nevertheless, US indices performed well last night after Goldman Sachs joined a growing list of companies to report better-than-expected earnings. Banking peers Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase have all beaten forecasts with their first-quarter results in the past week.The focus of today's session will likely be the release of the minutes from the latest Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, at which policymakers decided to stand pat on interest rates and quantitative easing. "We've known for quite some time that a number of MPC members have expressed concern that the risks of imported inflation and a weak pound could negate any positive effects extra stimulus measures might have, and given some of the recent weak manufacturing and construction data there has been some speculation that one of them may have shifted position into the doves camp," said Michael Hewson, Senior Market Analyst at CMC Markets.He expects there to have been a six-to-three split in favour of maintaining the asset purchase programme at £375bn.FTSE 100: Ex-div stocks provide a dragA number of heavyweight constituents went ex-dividend this morning, meaning that new investors will not be able to get their hands on the latest dividend payments. These companies included: ARM, BAE Systems, BG Group, Capita, Fresnillo, Petrofac, Resolution, Smith & Nephew, Tullow Oil and Wood Group.Iconic British luxury brand Burberry gained after reporting a 9.0% rise in underlying revenue in the second half as strong growth in Retail continued to offset a weaker performance in Wholesale.BHP Billiton, one of the world's largest miners, fell despite confirming that it was on track to hit full-year targets despite a lacklustre quarter.Tesco was also lower after posting its first decline in annual profits in two decades. The supermarket giant reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £3.5bn in the year to February 23rd 2013, a 10.7% fall from the £3.92bn the previous year.Financial services group Hargreaves Lansdown was making gains after saying that assets under administration reached record levels in the last three months as investor confidence continues to improve.FTSE 100 - RisersHargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 939.00p +4.33%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,319.00p +4.19%United Utilities Group (UU.) 737.00p +0.75%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 4,670.00p +0.45%BT Group (BT.A) 275.60p +0.44%British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,545.00p +0.40%Centrica (CNA) 377.80p +0.40%Diageo (DGE) 1,966.50p +0.31%National Grid (NG.) 790.50p +0.19%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 283.70p -0.04%FTSE 100 - FallersResolution Ltd. (RSL) 255.30p -7.50%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,082.00p -6.80%Evraz (EVR) 158.20p -4.64%Glencore International (GLEN) 311.65p -4.14%Xstrata (XTA) 945.50p -4.11%BAE Systems (BA.) 375.00p -3.87%Tesco (TSCO) 370.25p -3.79%Polymetal International (POLY) 719.50p -3.29%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,872.00p -3.02%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,786.50p -2.99%FTSE 250 - RisersRank Group (RNK) 158.30p +2.13%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 109.60p +1.76%Spirent Communications (SPT) 124.70p +1.55%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 188.50p +1.51%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 194.90p +1.46%Marston's (MARS) 134.10p +1.28%Synthomer (SYNT) 180.80p +1.18%Menzies(John) (MNZS) 693.00p +1.17%Premier Farnell (PFL) 204.00p +0.99%Law Debenture Corp. (LWDB) 461.90p +0.98%FTSE 250 - FallersFerrexpo (FXPO) 162.00p -6.68%Petropavlovsk (POG) 133.00p -6.40%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 923.50p -6.24%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 36.61p -5.16%Lonmin (LMI) 260.70p -5.10%Morgan Advance Materials (MGAM) 250.10p -5.09%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 236.40p -4.29%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 331.70p -4.05%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 173.60p -3.88%Chemring Group (CHG) 253.70p -3.79%BC