* FTSE 100 down 0.5%, FTSE 250 down 0.6%
* UK indexes ease after Friday's rally
* Sophos jumps on buyout deal, leads peer Avast higher
* Royal Mail drops as threat of Christmas strike looms
(Adds details, quotes, graphic, updates to closing prices)
By Shashwat Awasthi
Oct 14 (Reuters) - London-listed companies with exposure to
the domestic economy retreated on Monday as last week's euphoric
optimism gave way to doubts over whether a timely Brexit deal
could be clinched, while cybersecurity firm Sophos surged 36%
after a buyout offer.
The FTSE 250 .FTMC ended slightly off the day's lows but
still shed 0.6%, handing back part of the more than 4% gain it
had recorded in the previous session which was its best in
nearly a decade.
Britain and the European Union said over the weekend that a
lot more work would be needed to secure a Brexit agreement.
JP Morgan's UK domestic plays index .JPDEUKDM , tracking
about 30 UK stocks that make all or most of their revenue at
home, pulled back nearly 1%. It had jumped almost 8% on Friday,
its best day since the basket was created nearly three years
ago. Blue-chip banks like Lloyds LLOY.L and Barclays BARC.L
and housebuilders .FTNMX3720 skidded, dragging the FTSE 100
.FTSE 0.5% lower.
"On balance I feel the situation here is still fairly
unpredictable... I think it's far from clear we have a pathway
yet," said Paul O'Connor, head of the UK-based Multi-Asset Team
at Janus Henderson.
The main index was also hurt by a drop in miners
.FTNMX1770 after disappointing imports and exports data from
top metals consumer China. Mid-cap Sophos Group SOPH.L scaled its highest level in
more than a year at 586.8 pence, after private equity firm Thoma
Bravo said it would take the company private in a 583 pence per
share deal. Shares of its peer Avast AVST.L also rose 2.6%.
Sentiment around the U.S.-China trade situation also
tempered somewhat after a rally in global stocks last week on
signs of progress in negotiations that culminated with President
Donald Trump outlining the first phase of a deal and suspending
a threatened tariff hike. "We welcome it but it's a very fragile truce. The fact that
it wasn't written down is the most important thing. It shows
what a challenge it is to converge on a hard agreement,"
O'Connor said.
Ad firm WPP WPP.L , which lost 4% in the previous session
after French rival Publicis PUBP.PA cut its sales view for the
second time, ended 2.8% higher.
Royal Mail RMG.L , relegated to the FTSE 250 earlier this
year, slipped 2.4% after a report https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-mail-boss-rico-back-faces-threat-of-christmas-strike-chaos-d3mm0gf2j
that the company was facing the threat of an employee strike
over Christmas.
Car dealership chain Pendragon PDG.L , whose stock has
nearly halved in value this year, climbed 10%. Automotive News
reported https://europe.autonews.com/retail/pendragon-names-us-retail-veteran-berman-interim-ceo
Pendragon had named interim Executive Chairman and former
AutoNation AN.N COO Bill Berman as interim CEO.
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Share performance of Sophos and Avast vs FTSE 250 since 2018
https://tmsnrt.rs/2MgIwyN
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