LONDON (ShareCast) - Housebuilder Barratt Developments was leading the fallers after Liberum downgraded the stock to 'hold' and slashed its target price from 468p to 387p.

GKN, which supplies British multinational automotive and aerospace components, declined as airliners were hurt by news of the Malaysia Airlines crash in Ukraine which killed 298.

Royal Mail slumped after the news this week that French competition authorities were investigating its GLS France business.

Shire was the top riser after US drugmaker AbbVie bought the Dublin-based firm for £32bn. AbbVie said it will allow it to cut its US tax bill by relocating to the UK.

British Land, Severn Trent and Hammerson were up as investors took to defensive stocks as markets dragged amid concerns over tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

BSkyB gained amid reports it has started talks with Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox to acquire Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia to create a European powerhouse with 20m subscribers.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,903.00p +2.02%
British Land Co (BLND) 713.00p +1.71%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,911.00p +1.33%
Hammerson (HMSO) 605.00p +1.26%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 906.00p +0.95%
National Grid (NG.) 866.00p +0.93%
Pearson (PSON) 1,119.00p +0.90%
ITV (ITV) 196.50p +0.72%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,030.00p +0.50%
Fresnillo (FRES) 905.50p +0.44%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 353.30p -2.83%
GKN (GKN) 345.00p -2.62%
Royal Mail (RMG) 460.40p -2.04%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,522.00p -1.81%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 1,918.00p -1.64%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,624.00p -1.58%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,098.00p -1.52%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,134.00p -1.42%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 319.10p -1.42%
Prudential (PRU) 1,366.00p -1.37%

RD

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