Brewin Dolphin driven financials rally fails to lift London indexes

A rally among financial stocks driven by fund manager Brewin Dolphin catapulting after news broke that one of Canada’s biggest banks will buy the firm was not enough to boost London’s top indexes today.

The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index lost 0.60 per cent to close at 7,533.56 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, dropped 0.40 per cent to 21,187.90 points.

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) this morning announced a £1.6bn tie up with FTSE 250-listed wealth manager Brewin Dolphin.

The news goosed the latter’s share price over 60 per cent.

The deal is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, but most analysts expect the former to wave the bid through.

Train booking site Trainline was also a huge winner on the mid-cap index, rising over 20 per cent after a lower than expected cut to the amount of commission third-party ticket sellers receive.

“The rail sector has been through very difficult times during Covid, and it would have been easy to slash commission rates to the bone, leaving Trainline in a pickle,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said.

A cooling in oil prices soured sentiment toward industrial giants, which the FTSE 100 is heavily weighted toward.

Oil giant BP dropped 1.58 per cent, while miner Fresnillo dipped 1.24 per cent. 

Retailers also suffered heavy losses today.

A lack of movement in the City’s top indexes was mirrored across the Continent.

The pound gained ground on the greenback, strengthening 0.15 per cent to buy $1.3151.