FTSE 100 movers: Miners climb on copper, defensives left behind
London's blue chip stocks were on the rise on Monday, with miners grinding higher but defensive stocks left behind.
The bounce-back in copper provided a lift for Antofagasta, BHP Billiton and Anglo American.
"Last week the red metal fell to its lowest level in nearly a year, and today’s short squeeze could assist the mining sector in the short-term," said David Madden at CMC Markets.
Just Eat was lifted by a positive recommendation from RBC Capital Markets, which chose the online takeaway food specialist as its ‘top pick’. Analysts added the stock to their European large capitalisation ‘best ideas’ list. "Amidst an increasingly competitive landscape, we believe Just Eat is well positioned owing to its market leading positions and strong customer loyalty," the RBC analysts said.
There may also be a boost for consumer-focused stocks with the feel-good factor created by England reaching its first World Cup semi-final in nearly 30 years, helping high street retail giants Next and Marks & Spencer. M&S's annual general meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, though there will be no trading update released alongside. The retailers could also have been benefiting from read-across as budget clothing chain Matalan reported a 5% rise in quarterly sales.
Shares in Ashtead were helped as Berenberg raised is price target to 2,150p from 1,900p.
Initially higher before losing ground was ITV, where broker Liberum said the continued success of the England football team and Love Island should help the broadcaster beat first-half forecasts. England’s first two knockout games on its ITV1 brought in an average above 15m home viewers apiece, with Wednesday's semi-final against Croatia to come as well as co-hosting the final on Sunday.
“ITV’s planning on the World Cup would have been predicated on England only reaching the second round,” said analyst Ian Whittaker. “The fact that England are in the Semi-Finals means at least an extra eight days where TV advertising spending is boosted by England remaining in the World Cup.”
Defensives were prominent among the FTSE 100 fallers, with their propensity to get left behind during rally, allied to recently buoyant yields, to which these debt-heavy groups are very sensitive.
This included BT despite talks withAlibabaover a cloud services partnership that would help the Chinese digital giant enter into European markets with a challenge to part of Amazon's business.
Likewise, Reckitt Benckiser, which was among the fallers despite suggestions that its Mead Johnson baby milk producer could benefit from the trouble at French rival Danone, where there were reports that its Aptamil baby milk formula was making some infants ill.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,638.92 0.28%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,763.59 0.70%
techMARK (TASX) 3,530.97 0.05%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 966.20p 2.35%
Just Eat (JE.) 839.20p 2.29%
Next (NXT) 5,920.00p 2.07%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,297.50p 1.88%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 312.50p 1.69%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,731.00p 1.68%
Mondi (MNDI) 2,048.00p 1.59%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 680.00p 1.58%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 211.20p 1.49%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 63.40p 1.46%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 188.60p -1.25%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 776.20p -0.92%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 342.20p -0.90%
BT Group (BT.A) 229.75p -0.78%
SEGRO (SGRO) 672.60p -0.74%
Carnival (CCL) 4,274.00p -0.65%
Diageo (DGE) 2,729.50p -0.64%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,373.00p -0.53%
Royal Mail (RMG) 488.40p -0.53%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,540.20p -0.49%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Premier Oil (PMO) 127.50p 7.41%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 119.80p 6.49%
Energean Oil & Gas (ENOG) 552.00p 5.54%
Superdry (SDRY) 1,323.00p 5.42%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 509.20p 5.25%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 482.80p 5.05%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 238.70p 4.24%
Capita (CPI) 161.80p 4.19%
Hunting (HTG) 762.50p 4.02%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 275.87p 3.91%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 111.60p -5.22%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,427.00p -2.86%
esure Group (ESUR) 203.80p -2.21%
William Hill (WMH) 292.80p -1.74%
SIG (SHI) 130.70p -1.73%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 1,242.00p -1.58%
On The Beach Group (OTB) 510.00p -1.35%
Alfa Financial Software Holdings (ALFA) 164.60p -1.32%
Renewi (RWI) 75.70p -1.30%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 397.40p -1.24%