London stocks closed down territory on Tuesday, having taken their cue from heavy losses in Asia, as investors mulled economic data including the latest UK jobs figures.

The FTSE 100 ended the session down 0.25% at 7,175.70, and the FTSE 250 was off 1.04% at 20,257.66.

Sterling was in the green, meanwhile, last trading up 0.38% on the dollar at $1.3051, and strengthening 0.29% against the euro to €1.1919.

“European markets initially fell back sharply today, taking their cues from a big sell-off in Asia that appeared to be prompted by concerns that China might open itself up to US sanctions if it acquiesced to reported Russian requests for military aid in its war with Ukraine,” said CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson.

“Economic concerns over increasing Covid lockdowns have also served to act as a drag.

“As the day progressed, we’ve seen a modest stabilisation, with markets pulling off their lows as lower oil prices, and a slightly softer than expected core US PPI number pulled European equities up to finish the day with only modest losses.

“The decline in oil prices and the dropping of the remaining travel restrictions, including testing and mask mandates, has seen airlines pull off their intraday lows with easyJet seeing decent gains while IAG has also found some support, although Wizz Air has continued to underperform.”

In the latest from Russia’s ongoing, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the US, the UK and the European Union tightened their sanctions on Russia earlier, including a ban on the export of luxury goods and increased import tariffs.

The British government said that it, alongside G7 allies, had banned the export of luxury goods to Russia as well as denying the country, in conjunction with the World Trade Organisation, access to ‘most favoured nation’ tariffs.

As a result, a wide range of goods – which the government said were worth £900m – would now face an additional 35% import tariff on top of existing charges.

The goods ranged from iron, steel, fertilisers and cereals to vodka, furs and works of art, among others.

Westminster said the products had been selected to inflict “maximum damage” on the Russian economy, while minimising the impact on the UK.

It was not clear which specific high-end goods will be banned from export, as the government said further details would be published “in due course” and the ban coming into effect “shortly”.

Previous export bans included high-end fashion, works of art and luxury vehicles.

“The UK stands shoulder-to-shoulder with our international partners in our determination to punish Putin for his barbaric actions in Ukraine,” said UK trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

“The WTO is founded on respect for the rule of law, which Putin has shown he holds in contempt.”

Other measures announced by the European Commission included a ban on new investment in the Russian energy sector, with limited exceptions for civil nuclear energy and an import ban on steel products currently under EU safeguard measures.

The EC said the latter amounted to around €3.3bn in lost export revenue for Russia.

Its list of sanctioned persons and entities was also extended, to include companies active in military and defence sectors, while EU credit agencies could no longer rate Russia or Russian companies.

“These sanctions will further contribute to ramping up economic pressure on the Kremlin and cripple its ability to finance its invasion of Ukraine,” the European Commission said.

On the economic front, UK unemployment fell to pre-pandemic levels in the January quarter, but wages were struggling to keep up with soaring inflation according to official data.

The Office for National Statistics said there was both an increase in employment and a decrease in unemployment in the three months to the end of January.

It said the headline unemployment rate was 3.9% – 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous three-month period, returning it to pre-pandemic levels, and below consensus expectations for 4.0%.

The employment rate, meanwhile, was 75.6% – 0.1 percentage points higher than the previous three-month period, but one percentage point lower than the three months to February 2020.

“The latest jobs numbers show warning signs in several respects – job vacancies climbed further to a new record high of 1.3m,” said Martin Beck, chief economic advisor to the EY Item Club.

“The Monetary Policy Committee’s worry will be that a tight jobs market risks inflationary second-round effects, as workers seek to offset cost of living pressures by asking for higher wages.

“This means it’s now even likelier that the committee will raise interest rates on Thursday – but the extent to which strong demand for workers is feeding into pay growth is still not clear.”

Elsewhere, China’s economy got off to a surprisingly buoyant start in 2022 according to official data earlier, easily beating all expectations.

According to the National Statistics Bureau, industrial production grew by 7.5% year-on-year in the year to January-February.

That was weaker than December’s year-to-date rise of 9.6% but above analyst expectations for growth of just 4%.

Retail sales growth was 6.7% compared to 12.5% in the year-to-date in December, but was well ahead of consensus for 3.0%, helped by the Lunar New Year holidays and the Winter Olympic Games.

Growth in industrial production was flat in the eurozone in January, meanwhile, with Eurostat reporting that industrial production was nil in January, down from December when industrial production rose by 1.3%.

Seasonally-adjusted industrial production rose by 0.4% in the wider EU, compared to growth of 1.0% in December.

Finally, manufacturing activity in the New York region declined in March for the first time since early in the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new survey data.

The New York Fed’s Empire State general business conditions index fell to -11.8 from 3.1 in February.

That marked the lowest reading since May 2020 and was below expectations of 7.0.

In equity markets, precious metals miners Polymetal International and Fresnillo slid 22.9% and 2.91% as gold prices fell.

Miners also lost ground as base metals prices retreated, with Glencore down 4.41%, Rio Tinto losing 1.68%, Anglo American 0.65% weaker, and Antofagasta 1.61% lower.

Gold miner Petropavlovsk – which has operations in Russia – fell 26.67% by the end of trading.

Asia-focused banks Prudential and Standard Chartered were among the big fallers, losing 4.21% and 3.99%, as investors fretted about the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns in China and possible sanctions from the US.

TP ICAP slid 15.27% as the inter-dealer broker said revenues were rising in the current fiscal year as market volatility increased over the invasion of Ukraine, but reported an 81% drop in 2021 pre-tax profit.

Close Brothers dropped 10.84% after the wealth manager reported a small rise in interim profits, helped by growth in its merchant banking operation, offset by a fall in trading at its broking division.

Dr. Martens shares tumbled 6.53% after RBC Capital Markets slashed its price target on the stock to 375p from 525p, pointing to the iconic boot maker’s growth outlook.

Plumbing and heating products supplier Ferguson was 6.17% weaker despite doubling its share buyback to $2bn after interim profits rose by two-thirds, driven by a strong US residential house building market.

On the upside, educational publisher Pearson jumped 8.65%, adding to the gains that started after it rejected two preliminary and “highly conditional” takeover approaches from US asset manager Apollo Global Management on Friday.

Redde Northgate rallied 6.87% as the commercial vehicle rental provider said full-year profits were set to be “comfortably ahead” of consensus expectations and announced a £30m share buyback.

Recently-battered travel-related shares were also on the rise, with BA owner IAG up 1.04%, InterContinental Hotels rising 1.28% and Premier Inn owner Whitbread ahead 1.13%.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,175.70 -0.25%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,257.66 -1.04%

techMARK (TASX) 4,218.48 -0.56%

FTSE 100 – Risers

Pearson (PSON) 826.80p 8.65%

Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,276.00p 4.02%

Informa (INF) 568.80p 3.38%

National Grid (NG.) 1,155.40p 2.87%

Relx plc (REL) 2,189.00p 2.63%

Severn Trent (SVT) 2,918.00p 2.10%

United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,083.50p 2.07%

British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,088.00p 2.02%

Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,797.00p 1.77%

BT Group (BT.A) 177.80p 1.57%

FTSE 100 – Fallers

Polymetal International (POLY) 129.80p -22.90%

Ferguson (FERG) 10,950.00p -6.17%

Glencore (GLEN) 460.30p -4.41%

Prudential (PRU) 1,000.00p -4.21%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 471.50p -3.99%

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,013.00p -3.33%

St James’s Place (STJ) 1,331.00p -3.27%

Fresnillo (FRES) 700.60p -2.91%

Admiral Group (ADM) 2,576.00p -2.90%

Persimmon (PSN) 2,228.00p -2.79%

FTSE 250 – Risers

Redde Northgate (REDD) 404.50p 6.87%

Greencore Group (CDI) (GNC) 125.00p 3.91%

easyJet (EZJ) 522.80p 3.28%

Trainline (TRN) 199.80p 2.51%

Carnival (CCL) 1,261.80p 2.49%

Convatec Group (CTEC) 183.30p 2.32%

Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) 363.60p 2.31%

Greggs (GRG) 2,371.00p 1.98%

Centrica (CNA) 78.42p 1.92%

Biffa (BIFF) 328.50p 1.86%

FTSE 250 – Fallers

Petropavlovsk (POG) 2.35p -26.67%

TP Icap Group (TCAP) 111.00p -15.27%

Close Brothers Group (CBG) 1,084.00p -10.84%

TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 183.00p -9.63%

Beazley (BEZ) 395.90p -8.67%

Currys (CURY) 84.90p -8.12%

Quilter (QLT) 128.35p -7.50%

Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 372.00p -7.46%

Dr. Martens (DOCS) 217.60p -6.53%

Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 165.75p -6.36%

(Source)