Hunting on the slide as oil price slump puts brake on producers

OILFIELD services provider

Hunting slid to a one-year low after warning that drillers could hold fire on investment decisions amid wild swings in crude prices.

After the threat of a supply squeeze prompted whispers of a possible return to $100-per-barrel oil, crude has slumped into a bear market on a sudden turn in sentiment, dropping below $60 yesterday.

Hunting spooked investors by warning clients could defer decisions in the “current volatile market environment”. Management said it was entering 2019 with a “cautious outlook” but insisted its “robust” position could help ride out “challenging” conditions. Hunting slipped 25.5p to 488p as UBS warned City analysts will slash 2019 estimates. Peer Wood

Group tracked its rival lower, sinking 33.8p to 535p.

Elsewhere, investor darling Asos being caught up in the retail-sector slump put renewed pressure on its flagging bricks-and-mortar rivals. M&S and B&Q owner

Kingfisher slid 12.1p to 251.3p and 9.4p to 216p respectively, while embattled department store

Debenhams hit a new record low after shedding a further 0.4p to 5p. Dunelm plunged 57.7p to 482.8p to the bottom of the FTSE 250 leaderboard.

Shares in pharma giant

Shire fell 140.5p to £45.33 as credit ratings agency Moody’s downgraded takeover suitor Takeda ahead of its £46bn cashplus-shares acquisition. It warned of the risk Takeda faces in dumping “such a large amount of non-core assets” from Shire and integrating the rest of the business after the debtfuelled swoop. Mining heavyweight BHP

Billiton was one of a handful of blue-chip shares to edge higher after confirming it will pay investors a special dividend. The payout following the sale of its onshore US shale assets boosted BHP 43.2p to £16.60. Beleaguered gold producer Acacia Mining slumped 12.2p to 180.6 as investors reacted to a report from Friday warning that the Serious Fraud Office is investigating the company over alleged corruption in Tanzania. The miner insisted it is not aware of an SFO investigation.

Interserve shares clawed back 0.7p to 14.1p after a Sky News report claimed the outsourcer could offload one of its construction units to lenders as part of its turnaround efforts. Thomas

Cook continued its freefall with investors shrugging off boss Peter Fankhauser snapping up £50,000 of shares. It dropped a further 1.4p to 27.2p.

Any early whiff of a so-called “Santa rally” on markets was quashed by investor nerves in the run-up to this week’s crucial Federal Reserve meeting. The US central bank is widely expected to vote for a hike tomorrow despite worries over weakening global growth and tighter financial conditions.

Donald Trump heavily criticised the Fed yesterday for considering a hike amid a cocktail of risks on markets while the FTSE 100 dipped 71.93 points to 7,773.24 in the global slide.