London open: Stocks open in the red after Fed keeps rates unchanged

18th Sep 2015 08:32

(ShareCast News) - UK stocks opened in negative territory on Friday as the market continued to process the Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates unchanged.The Federal Open Market Committee announced it would hold rates at 0.25% amid low inflation and the recent global market turbulence. Concerns over China's slowdown have triggered an international decrease in commodity prices, dragging prices in the US lower."Recent global economic and financial developments may restrain economic activity somewhat and are likely to put further downward pressure on inflation in the near term," the Fed said in a statement.However, Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker voted in favour of raising the key rate by 0.25 percentage point.Fed Chair Janet Yellen said an interest rate hike will depend on a wide range of economic and financial indicators."In reality the decision to hold rates shouldn't really have been in doubt given the tepid wage growth and declining inflation, yet the fact that we only got one dissenter in the form of Jeffrey Lacker, President of the Richmond Fed suggests that there was probably a certain degree of unanimity," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets."While markets chose to focus on the improvement in the labour market in the lead up to this month's meeting, it was clear from the July statement with the removal of the paragraph about the stabilisation in energy prices, that the Fed was concerned about renewed weakness in this area, yet there was very little attention paid to that."Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said the Fed's decision may be seen by many as appropriate in the wake of slowing growth in China but "this is likely to be merely a temporary forestalling of the inevitable".He said "the lack of action leaves lingering uncertainty about the outlook for US policymaking, which will no doubt fuel further volatility in the markets"."Speculation will now shift to December as the next most likely month for US rates to start rising."Away from the Fed, there is very little on the economic calendar on Friday following a busy week which saw UK and US inflation releases.Company-wise, Ryanair descended as the Civil Aviation Authority began enforcement action against the airline over flight disruptions following a judgement from the European court of justice.Petra Diamonds declined after saying full-year revenues dropped 10% to $425m on the back of lower diamond prices, as expected.Pace advanced as it said its recommended combination with Arris Group continues to progress in line with expectations but reported that revenue is likely to be lower than previously guided.Miners Randgold Resource and Fresnillo were top risers as the price of gold and silver rose. Market MoverstechMARK 3,064.62 +0.14%FTSE 100 6,171.59 -0.25%FTSE 250 17,019.71 -0.14% FTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 3,854.00p +3.35%Fresnillo (FRES) 608.00p +3.05%AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,347.50p +1.80%Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,246.00p +1.47%British Land Company (BLND) 815.50p +1.24%United Utilities Group (UU.) 889.50p +1.14%Inmarsat (ISAT) 1,003.00p +1.06%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 226.90p +0.84%Intu Properties (INTU) 319.80p +0.69%National Grid (NG.) 856.40p +0.68% FTSE 100 - FallersWeir Group (WEIR) 1,262.00p -1.71%Barclays (BARC) 256.25p -1.61%Ashtead Group (AHT) 987.00p -1.60%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 700.00p -1.48%Glencore (GLEN) 130.35p -1.36%BAE Systems (BA.) 438.20p -1.33%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 321.80p -1.29%Standard Life (SL.) 405.90p -1.19%3i Group (III) 468.80p -1.18%BP (BP.) 341.70p -1.16% FTSE 250 - RisersZoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 215.90p +3.65%Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 582.00p +3.56%Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 960.00p +3.23%Poundland Group (PLND) 326.90p +2.80%esure Group (ESUR) 255.20p +2.65%John Laing Group (JLG) 212.70p +2.11%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 63.65p +1.92%Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 1,900.00p +1.88%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 302.50p +1.82%Lonmin (LMI) 22.40p +1.68% FTSE 250 - FallersPremier Oil (PMO) 79.70p -5.06%Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 153.70p -3.45%Tullow Oil (TLW) 205.80p -2.46%Evraz (EVR) 70.40p -1.74%Rotork (ROR) 189.30p -1.71%Debenhams (DEB) 75.25p -1.63%Allied Minds (ALM) 491.20p -1.54%Mitie Group (MTO) 281.10p -1.54%Premier Farnell (PFL) 110.30p -1.52%Bodycote (BOY) 608.50p -1.38% FTSE TechMARK - RisersOxford Instruments (OXIG) 606.00p +2.36%KCOM Group (KCOM) 91.50p +0.83%Skyepharma (SKP) 348.75p +0.72%NCC Group (NCC) 260.25p +0.68%Spirent Communications (SPT) 76.00p +0.66%IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 201.04 +0.58%E2V Technologies (E2V) 235.00p +0.32%SDL (SDL) 368.25p +0.07% FTSE TechMARK - FallersBATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 18.50p -1.99%Innovation Group (TIG) 39.75p -0.62%Consort Medical (CSRT) 920.00p -0.43%Sepura (SEPU) 174.50p -0.29%Dialight (DIA) 650.00p -0.15%