FTSE 100 Live: AB Foods sales up; shares lower; oil prices up

Mortgage prices up again after Friday’s relief

The average fixed mortgage rate rose again after pressure eased on Friday, while a number of lenders continue to keep products off the market.

The average two-year rate rose from 6.19% to 6.23%  while the average five-year rate was up from 5.86% to 5.83%. Rates had been steady on Friday in the immediate aftermath of the Bank of England’s half-point rate hike.

Buy-to-let mortgage rates were stable today.

The number of products on the market ticked up to 4,483, but was still down by around 500 from a little over a month ago, before April’s inflation reading led to chaos in the gilt markets.

Today, two-year gilt yields briefly hit yet another 15-year high of 5.17% and remain close to those levels  as the City sees Bank of England interest rates peaking at 6.25%.

Oil prices ease, FTSE 100 sell-off continues

Oil prices have fallen back, having initially risen on the potential for political instability in Russia to disrupt supplies in one of the world’s largest oil producing countries.

Brent Crude is slightly lower at $73.74 a barrel, down from an earlier peak of $74.63. Meanwhile, supply concerns have caused European natural gas futures to jump 10%.

The developments come with traders still focused on the uncertain global outlook, with the sell-off for London shares accelerating to leave the FTSE 100 index down 41.06 points to 7,420.81.

Lloyds among FTSE 100 fallers, Aston Martin shares jump 12%

Banking stocks are among those under pressure today, leaving the FTSE 100 index 0.2% or 16.26 points lower at 7445.61.

Lloyds Banking Group fell 0.4p to 41.9p as analysts at JP Morgan cut their price target from 56p to 42p. Barclays and NatWest shares also dropped by just under 1% as worries mount over the demand impact of higher mortgage rates.

Other fallers included Vodafone, which dropped 0.3p to 72.4p after it was reported that the mobile phone giant’s Three merger is facing parliamentary scrutiny.

Premier Inn owner Whitbread led the risers board with a gain of 51p to 3322p, reflecting the improvement in sentiment following last week’s trading update.

The FTSE 250 index stood 62.79 points lower at 17,999.54, despite shares in Aston Martin Lagonda jumping 12% or 37.8p to 365p on the back of a new supplier deal for electric vehicle components.

Cineworld set to enter UK administration

Cineworld’s shares are to be suspended as its holding company enters administration as part of its plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The chain says that operations and jobs will not be affected, and the move will merely allow it to transfer ownership to its new holding company, which is controlled  by its creditors.

The cinema chain entered bankruptcy protection last year and announced a restructuring deal that would see shareholders get wiped out in April, but investors hope to block it at a court hearing this week

It still expects to emerge from bankruptcy protection in July.

Inflation leaves bad taste at Cake Box

London-listed egg-free baker Cake Box set out plans to double its number of shops to 400, despite profit falling amid a “unique set of macro-economic pressures” last year.

For the year to 31 March, sales rose slightly to £34.8 million, but amid high inflation – especially for food items – pre-tax profit fell by 28.6% to £5.4 million. Despite  the decline, the business still upped its dividend to 5.5p per share.

CEO Sukh Chamdal noted that the group was approaching the target it had set of 250 shops. As a result, it set a new target of 400.

“We have continued with our steady store opening program to add to the 205 Cake Box shops we had at year end.  As we approach the 250 target number of stores we set ourselves at our IPO almost 5 years ago to the day, we continue to look to stretch ourselves with a new target of 400 and new ways to provide the UK consumer with our unique egg-free fresh cream cakes.”

Aston Martin to switch supplier for key EV components

Aston Martin Lagonda will switch the supplier of key electric vehicle components from Mercedes to Lucid Motors, ending a deal that would have allowed the German colossus to up its stake in the iconic James Bond brand to 20%.

Lucid Motors will make powertrain components for Aston Martin’s  electric vehicles, in a £182 million shares-and-cash deal. That includes £79 million worth of shares.

The FTSE 250 carmaker, which has seen its shares soar this year, previously had a similar deal with Mercedes. It said it has “amended” this deal. Instead of supplying new technology in exchange for the option to buy shares, Mercedes may now “discuss future access to technology for cash”.

Lawrence Stroll, executive chairman of Aston Martin, said: “The proposed supply agreement with Lucid is a game changer for the future EV-led growth of Aston Martin. Based on our strategy and requirements, we selected Lucid, gaining access to the industry’s highest performance and most innovative technologies for our future BEV products.

FTSE 100 seen flat, oil price higher

Cautious trading for European markets is set to continue as investors worry about how rising interest rates will impact the global outlook.

Last week’s performance was the worst since March as it became apparent that central banks have further to go in their fight against inflation.

US markets were also lower last week, with the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite in the red for the first time in two months and the S&P 500 index down 1.7%.

CMC Markets expects the FTSE 100 index to open broadly flat at 7468, while US futures markets are pointing slightly higher.

The Brent Crude price fell 3.6% last week but is back up 0.6% to $74.32 today as traders react to events in Russia and the potential for political instability to disrupt supplies in one of the world’s largest oil producing countries.

Friday’s top stories

Good morning, here are a selection of Friday’s top stories:

Today, we have results from: