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Darktrace shines but FTSE misses Wall Street’s spark

Graeme Evans @EvansOnTheMoney

AS Big Tech’s earnings bonanza builds on Wall Street, investors in London are again being left frustrated by a lack of similar action this side of the Atlantic.

Traditional sectors such as banking, mining and retail continue to dominate the FTSE 100 index, although there was some changing of the guard today as cybersecurity firm Darktrace entered the top-flight in place of 117-year-old supermarket Morrisons.

Shares in the Bradford-based retail chain were today halted at 286.4p after its private equity takeover by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

That left the way for Darktrace to complete its rapid transformation into a blue-chip company, just six months after its chief executive Poppy Gustafsson launched the business onto the stock market at a price of 250p a share.

The firm is now trading at 711p for a valuation of £5 billion, although the honeymoon for the AI-focused security specialist may be over after one City firm’s “sell” recommendation sent shares sharply lower on Monday. It dipped another 22.5p today.

One of the handful of other tech stocks in the FTSE 100 is Aveva, with the Cambridge-based internet-ofthings company today reporting revenues growth of 9% at the half-way point of its financial year. Its shares have been under pressure since September and were down another 44p to 3594p today.

Mining stocks were also weaker as the FTSE 100 index fell from last night’s 20-month high, down 24.01 points at 7253.60. Wall Street’s S&P 500, meanwhile, has been trading at a record high after a run of blockbuster updates.

The FTSE 250 index fell 2.73 points to 23,158.88, although FirstGroup rose 5.05p to 101.2p after it invited shareholders to tender their shares at 105p under plans to distribute £500 million from recent US disposals. Activist investor Coast Capital Management, which holds a 12% stake, has said it will participate in the tender offer in full.

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2021-10-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

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