FTSE 100 movers: Barratt gains on results but Micro Focus retreats
London's FTSE 100 was down 1.3% to 7,595.63 in afternoon trade on Wednesday as trade war concerns intensified after Donald Trump followed through on his threats to slap tariffs on an extra $200bn of Chinese goods.
Micro Focus slumped on the back of disappointing interim results.
Miners suffered heavy losses as worries about a trade war intensified, with Glencore, Anglo, Rio, Antofagasta and BHP all lower.
Glencore was also in focus after saying it has set up a board committee to oversee its respond to the US authorities' demands for documents on its business in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Venezuela and Nigeria as part of a corruption probe.
Barratt Developments bucked the trend after the housebuilder said it expected pre-tax profits to come in at a record £835m, up from £765.1m in 2017 after reaching its highest level of completions for a decade.
The company completed 17,579 homes, up from 17,395, in 2017.
"Market conditions remain supportive, with attractive mortgage financing available and strong consumer demand for our homes across the country," Barratt said.
Retailer Next got a boost after Credit Suisse upped its stance on the stock to 'neutral' versus 'underperform'.
Sky was on the front foot after Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox upped its offer for the shares in the broadcaster it does not already own to £14 per share, trumping the latest offer from Comcast by around 12%.
The offer, which is up from a previous £10.75 per share, remains subject to the approval of the UK Secretary of State, which is due to make a final decision by Thursday.
The offer price is a premium of around 82.1% to the closing price of Sky shares on 6 December 2016 - the last business day before it received the proposal from Fox - and implies a value of around £24.5bn for Sky.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 497.70p 3.04%
Next (NXT) 6,074.00p 1.57%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,444.00p 1.35%
BAE Systems (BA.) 655.00p 1.05%
Sky (SKY) 1,516.50p 1.00%
Kingfisher (KGF) 303.40p 0.63%
Relx plc (REL) 1,657.00p 0.36%
Informa (INF) 850.60p 0.24%
Tesco (TSCO) 255.30p 0.24%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,340.00p 0.13%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,168.00p -10.40%
Evraz (EVR) 500.80p -5.08%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,052.00p -4.62%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,628.50p -3.95%
Glencore (GLEN) 314.40p -3.84%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,657.40p -3.81%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,006.00p -3.38%
Schroders (SDR) 3,154.00p -2.77%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 944.20p -2.60%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,663.60p -2.58%