FTSE 100 movers: Fresnillo shines as gold rallies; NMC health slumps
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Wednesday 07 Aug 2019
(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 7,205.73 in afternoon trade on Wednesday, recovering from recent heavy losses as the pound slipped.
Precious metals miner Fresnillo shone as gold prices breached the $1,500 per ounce mark for the first time in six years. Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said this was "a sign of investors' anxieties".
Flutter Entertainment, formerly Paddy Power Betfair, was a high riser as it posted an 18% jump in interim revenue, although profit was hit by taxes and duties.
Phoenix Group advanced as it reported "strong" cash generation for the first half and said it expects to be towards the upper end of its 2019 cash generation target range of £600m to £700m.
On the downside, UAE-based healthcare provider NMC Health suffered heavy losses. One trader said that when US research firm Muddy Waters tweeted on Tuesday that it would announce a new short position "on an accounting fiasco that's potentially insolvent" the following day, many investors thought it was referring to NMC.
It transpired earlier, however, that the stock in question was litigation and risk management company Burford Capital.
"Perhaps yesterday's suggestion caused people to look again at NMC and conclude that it was a sell," said a trader.
Standard Life Aberdeen lost ground as the asset manager posted a drop in first-half pre-tax profit to £280m from £311m in the first half of 2018.
Glencore fell as it said it was shuttering its Mutanda cobalt mine in response to a plunge in prices and higher costs as the miner reported a sharp fall in adjusted core earnings. The company said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 32% to $5.6bn, reflecting a "challenging economic backdrop for our commodity mix".
Hargreaves Lansdown was on the back foot following a report that that some of its executive will give up their bonuses after clients were hit by the suspension of Neil Woodford's flagship fund.
Legal & General was in the red even as it reported an 11% jump in first-half operating profit and a 12% increase in pre-tax profit as it achieved record global annuity sales.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 693.40p 7.54%
Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) 6,592.00p 5.84%
Just Eat (JE.) 765.40p 3.52%
BAE Systems (BA.) 552.00p 2.99%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,520.00p 2.64%
Experian (EXPN) 2,492.00p 1.84%
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 668.40p 1.81%
Relx plc (REL) 1,913.00p 1.78%
ITV (ITV) 108.20p 1.69%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 6,708.00p 1.67%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
NMC Health (NMC) 2,021.00p -10.50%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 261.00p -7.38%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 8,100.00p -5.92%
Glencore (GLEN) 222.10p -4.00%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,819.50p -3.06%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 238.00p -2.98%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 737.49p -2.83%
Centrica (CNA) 68.00p -1.90%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,749.00p -1.68%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 620.80p -1.59%
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN