FTSE dragged by anxieties over Sky deal

Market report Emma Newlands

News that Disney will snap up a raft of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets including Sky sent the broadcaster’s shares to the bottom of the FTSE 100 and dragged the blue-chip index into the red.

The FTSE 100 ended the day down 48.39 points at 7,448.12, with Sky among its biggest fallers, dropping 19p at 990p.

The $52.4 billion (£39bn) deal sparked investor jitters over Sky’s future under Disney, which will take on a 39 per cent stake in the business.

In currency markets, the pound was trading higher by 0.15 per cent versus the US dollar at $1.343, but climbed 0.5 per cent against the euro to €1.140 as investors reacted to comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, who flagged uncertainty over the eurozone’s inflation outlook as the central bank left interest rates on hold. Investors were less excited by comments surrounding the Bank of England’s interest rate decision, keeping it at 0.5 per cent. The pound was relatively flat following the announcement.

In UK stocks, Sports Direct shares dropped 8.5p to 374.9p after statutory pre-tax profits plunged 67.3 per cent for the half year to 29 October, which the company put down to “fair value adjustments and transitional factors such as the disposal of assets”.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 included Land Securities up 30.5p to 978.5p, Mondi up 51p to 1,775p and BT Group up 5.85p to 273.85p.

The biggest fallers included Standard Life Aberdeen down 13.7p to 413.8p, Convatec Group down 6.1p to 203.2p and British American Tobacco down 104.5p to 4,924.5p. The platinum miner has agreed to a takeover by South African rival Sibanye-stillwater in a £285 million deal that will spark major costsavings. The outsourcing giant warned that trading conditions remain “challenging” as it faces a number of headwinds in both private and public sector markets.