MARKET REPORT: Budget jitters hit shares of online trading firms

Online trading platforms suffered a pre-Budget sell-off yesterday amid fears over the contents of the Chancellor’s red box.

While businesses and households have a lot to worry about – from higher national insurance contributions to a rise in bus fares – companies such as CMC Markets and IG Group have been hit by speculation about what might happen to capital gains tax.

Keir Starmer sparked outrage last week when he insisted that anyone who owns shares is not a ‘working person’ – implying they are fair game for a revenue-hungry Treasury.

Raising capital gains taxes on stock sales would mean less profit for investors – and less incentive to invest.

CMC fell 5.3 percent, or 17p, to 302p, and IG Group lost 3.3 percent, or 30.5p, to 895.5p. Rivals Plus 500 (down 4.2 percent, or 102p, to 2326p) and

AJ Bell (down 2.5 percent, or 11.5 cents, to 454 cents) also struggled.

As investors nervously awaited the budget, the FTSE 100 index fell 0.8 percent, or 66.01 points, to 8,219.61 and the more domestically focused FTSE 250 lost 1 percent, or 212.31 points, to 20,622.79.

Education-focused publisher Pearson said it is starting to see commercial benefits from artificial intelligence as it reported a rise in third-quarter revenue and reiterated its full-year guidance.

Pearson said underlying sales growth in the latest quarter was 5 percent, which included growth across all divisions.

The third quarter figure represented an improvement over the first and second quarters, as growth was 3 percent this year.

CEO Omar Abbosh said the company would accelerate its AI capabilities across the company. Shares in Pearson rose 4.3 per cent, or 46.5p, to 1118p.

Asia-focused financial services was prominent among the big gainers, supported by a positive assessment of global banking giant HSBC’s strong third-quarter results.

HSBC was among the top FTSE 100 gainers, up 3.1 per cent, or 21.6p, to 713.7p, with fellow lender Standard Chartered adding 1.2 per cent, or 10.6p, to 876 .4p, but insurer Prudential fell 0.5 per cent, or 3p, to 649p.

Heavyweight mining companies were also higher as metal prices rose, with Chilean copper group Antofagasta up 0.4 per cent, or 8p, to 1815p, Anglo American up 0.8 per cent, or 20p, to 2483p, and Rio Tinto up 1 .1 percent, or 54p, to 5131p.

On the second line, Elementis was among the FTSE 250 gainers, up 0.3 percent, or 0.4p, to 138.6p, as the specialty chemicals sector outperformed in the third quarter and said it was well positioned to achieve results for the entire year. financial performance in line with expectations.

Outside of results, asset manager St James’s Place lost 2.8 per cent, or 23.5p, to 825.5p, after Bank of America analysts downgraded their rating to neutral from buy after lowering their price target.

Chip wafer maker IQE fell 20.4 percent, or 2.98 cents, to 11.62 cents after it was announced that Americo Lemos had stepped down as CEO.

Jutta Meier will become interim CEO in addition to her role as Chief Financial Officer.