A clutch of heavyweight dividend payments knocked almost 20 points off the FTSE 100 on Thursday, with four of the index’s biggest companies trading ex-dividend.
HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA) had the largest impact, removing 5.36 points from the blue-chip index as the shares traded without entitlement to the bank’s latest 10-cent quarterly payout.
BP PLC (LSE:BP.) stripped out a further 4.06 points linked to its 8.32-cent dividend, while Unilever PLC's (LSE:ULVR) 40.46p payment accounts for a 3.66-point adjustment and GSK PLC (LSE:GSK, NYSE:GSK) 17p distribution another 2.89 points.
Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) is also among the larger contributors to the drag, with Coca-Cola HBC AG (LSE:CCH), and Pershing Square Holdings (LSE:PSH) rounding out the list of ex-dividend moves.
The seven stocks trading ex-div was calculated to reduce the Footsie by about 19.7 points at the open, irrespective of wider market movements.
The effect on the index is amplified by the presence of several of the market’s largest constituents among Thursday’s dividend payers.