(Sharecast News) - London stocks closed in negative territory on Thursday, after no progress was made in high-level talks between Russia and Ukraine, as the European Central Bank surprised markets by hastening its exit from quantitative easing.
The FTSE 100 ended the session down 1.27% at 7,099.09, and the FTSE 250 was 0.57% weaker at 19,955.55.

Sterling, meanwhile, was in a mixed state, last falling 0.55% against the dollar to $1.3108, while it strengthened 0.08% on the euro to change hands at €1.1908.

"Some of the ground gained yesterday has been given back, with most of the FTSE 100 tending to the downside," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

"It looks like yesterday's bounce might have been a bit of a one-hit wonder, a product of short covering and thinner liquidity.

"Nothing over the past 24 hours really suggests a major change in tone, and for now the downside case continues to prevail, bolstered by continued fears about inflation and the shift towards hawkishness in central bank thinking."

Talks between the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia earlier failed to make progress, with Dmytro Kuleba and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov meeting in Turkey for the first high-level talks since Russia invaded its neighbour.

A key focus was on the possibility of 24-hour ceasefire to get aid to civilians, but Kuleba told reporters that no progress had been made.

According to Reuters, he said the most critical situation was the southern port of Mariupol, but Lavrov had been unable to commit to a humanitarian corridor.

"I made a simple proposal to minister Lavrov: I can call my Ukrainian ministers, authorities, and the president now and give you 100% assurances on security guarantees for humanitarian corridors," he said.

"I asked him, 'can you do the same?' and he did not respond."

Al Jazeera quoted Kuleba as saying the talks had been "difficult" and added: "I want to repeat that Ukraine has not surrendered, does not surrender, and will not surrender."

Meanwhile Lavrov, at a separate news conference, said that president Vladimir Putin would not refuse a meeting with his counterpart Volodymr Zelenskyy to discuss "specific" issues.

Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, became the first major Wall Street bank to pull out of Russia on Thursday, saying it was winding down its business in Russia, in accordance with the relevant regulatory and licensing rules.

It came after Goldman disclosed a credit exposure to Russia of $650m (£495.06m).

"Goldman Sachs is winding down its business in Russia in compliance with regulatory and licensing requirements," the bank said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

Earlier, the European Central Bank surprised financial markets in announcing a quicker wind down of its asset purchases, even as it described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a watershed for Europe.

In what appeared to be a shift towards a greater concern around the inflation outlook, the ECB pledged "to do whatever it took to fulfil the monetary authority's mandate for price stability and in order to safeguard financial stability."

Buying under its asset purchase programme would now slow to €30bn in May and €20bn in June from €40bn in April.

A halt in the programme from the third quarter would depend on the medium-term inflation outlook, the ECB said.

Purchases had previously been set to run at a pace of €40bn over the three months to June, at a clip of €30bn in the third quarter and at €20bn per quarter "for as long as necessary" thereafter.

As expected, all of the main interest rates were unchanged, with those on the main refinancing operations, the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility kept at 0.0%, 0.25%, -0.50%, respectively.

"A bit more hawkish than expected - though how buying even more bonds, further expanding the balance sheet and heaping more fuel on the inflation fire until June at the earliest can be considered 'hawkish' in any way is kind of ridiculous," quipped Neil Wilson at Markets.com.

"But that is where we are right now - trying to wean the addict off the junk with methadone."

Across the pond, the cost of living in the US increased as expected last month, amid a surge in energy prices.

According to the Department of Labor, the consumer price index jumped at a seasonally-adjusted month-on-month pace of 0.8%, pushing the annual rate of increase four tenths of a percentage point higher to 7.9%.

Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased by 0.5% on the month and 6.4% year-on-year.

On home shores, Chancellor Rishi Sunak was said to be facing a choice between spending rises or allowing a massive slump in living standards, as inflation, runaway energy prices and the war in Ukraine hit households.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said mitigating the impact on wages since Sunak's last budget plan in October would cost £10bn.

Another £12bn would be needed to restore the level of support for households facing a jump in domestic energy bills that Sunak announced last month.

The finance minister had hoped to cut public borrowing to £83bn in the 2022-2023 fiscal year - less than half of borrowing in the Covid-pandemic-affected previous 12 months.

In equity markets, Anglo-Russian precious metals miner Polymetal International ended a turbulent session down 2.86%.

Shares in Russian steelmaker Evraz, meanwhile, were down 12.59%, having been suspended earlier after Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich - who also has a majority stake in the company - was hit by UK sanctions.

Elsewhere, Volution plunged 11.87% and Capita tumbled 7.13%, reversing earlier gains.

Persimmon was down 4.07%, HSBC lost 2.76% and Micro Focus was 6.55% weaker as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

On the upside, engineering group Spirax-Sarco was ahead 4.42% after it predicted strong growth in 2022 as it reported a sharp rise in annual profit and increased its dividend.

Hill & Smith added 9.12% and Spirent Communications rose 8.7% after results.

In broker note action, Molten Ventures was boosted 5.11% by an upgrade to 'buy' at Jefferies, while Capital & Counties was 3.99% higher after an upgrade to 'overweight' at Barclays.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,099.09 -1.27%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,955.55 -0.57%
techMARK (TASX) 4,152.02 -0.48%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 498.00p 5.93%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,568.00p 4.67%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,825.00p 4.42%
Fresnillo (FRES) 766.20p 2.21%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,818.50p 1.73%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,481.00p 1.72%
BAE Systems (BA.) 734.20p 1.61%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 139.80p 1.60%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,100.00p 1.22%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 9,219.00p 1.07%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Evraz (EVR) 80.89p -12.59%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,120.00p -9.21%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 113.70p -8.34%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 3,023.00p -5.85%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,499.00p -5.47%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 545.00p -4.75%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,570.00p -4.72%
Diageo (DGE) 3,375.00p -4.71%
Kingfisher (KGF) 271.10p -4.04%
Rightmove (RMV) 622.40p -3.94%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 125.00p 12.11%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,412.00p 9.12%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 246.20p 8.70%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 105.90p 6.26%
Molten Ventures (GROW) 719.00p 5.11%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 243.40p 5.00%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 147.30p 4.47%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 188.00p 4.44%
Premier Foods (PFD) 105.40p 4.15%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 161.50p 3.99%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Petropavlovsk (POG) 2.67p -14.06%
Volution Group (FAN) 408.50p -11.87%
Darktrace (DARK) 454.80p -7.15%
Capita (CPI) 20.31p -7.13%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,714.00p -6.74%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 345.20p -6.55%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 861.00p -5.90%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 815.00p -5.63%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 241.20p -5.34%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 649.00p -4.84%