FTSE 100 movers: Miners shine as copper rallies; RBS goes ex-div
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 21 Mar 2019
(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 1% at 7,363.81 in afternoon trade on Thursday, with miners on the rise.
Precious metals miner Fresnillo shone as gold prices rallied on the back of a dovish Fed statement.
Miners were also on the front foot, with BHP, Rio and Anglo all up as copper prices advanced.
On the downside, RBS was the standout loser as its stock went ex-dividend, with Segro and Phoenix Group also under pressure as they went ex-div.
Housebuilder Persimmon fell after saying it was set to become the first major UK housebuilder to adopt a policy of providing a homebuyer's retention. This means it will write into its standard contract that 1.5% of the total home value - equating to around 6% of the build fabric costs - could be withheld by the buyer's solicitor until any faults identified at the point of key release were resolved.
Analysts pointed out that this is a bearish development for the sector that will put pressure on working cash flows and margins.
Shore Capital analyst Robin Hardy said: "The danger for Persimmon is, we believe, that this will allow a far greater number of buyers to come forwards and demand that their new home is put right and this is likely to have an impact on margins.
"Additional costs will need to be incurred post-sale (this would likely to be the case in the early days of the scheme) but longer term more money will need to be spent on core construction and inspection costs."
British Airway and Iberia parents IAG flew lower after a downgrade to 'neutral' from MainFirst, while EasyJet was also down despite an upgrade to 'neutral' by the same outfit.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 834.00p 4.25%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,709.50p 3.58%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,444.00p 2.40%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,554.60p 1.99%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,798.60p 1.81%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,273.50p 1.75%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,026.50p 1.75%
Evraz (EVR) 609.00p 1.74%
Experian (EXPN) 2,071.00p 1.72%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 973.40p 1.67%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 248.40p -6.09%
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 674.40p -3.69%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 63.09p -3.02%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 4,575.00p -2.89%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,183.50p -2.39%
Barclays (BARC) 160.74p -2.21%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,176.30p -2.08%
SEGRO (SGRO) 670.80p -1.96%
Kingfisher (KGF) 226.50p -1.65%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 529.50p -1.49%
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