FTSE 100 movers: Miners slump but Admiral rallies on results

London's FTSE 100 was down 1.3% to 7,509.60 in afternoon trade on Wednesday, with miners a major drag, as investors digested the latest UK inflation data.

Miners were the biggest fallers as dollar strength and declining metals prices weighed on the sector. Anglo, Antofagasta, Glencore and BHP Billiton were all weaker

A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.

IG market analyst Joshua Mahony said: "Commodity prices have been sliding lower once more, with the rise in the dollar and continued fears over the US-China trade war denting confidence. Yesterday’s earnings-fuelled losses for Antofagasta have been carried through into today, with copper approaching bear market territory."

Precious metals miner Fresnillo lost its shine after gold prices fell to an 18-month low overnight.

"From a technical perspective gold is strongly oversold but with the dollar being on the offensive more losses seem likely with the $1,180 area coming into focus," said Konstantinos Anthis, head of research at ADSS.

Going the other way, Admiral was the standout gainer after saying profits surged in the first half of the year as several of its businesses broke into profits and its UK motor insurance arm outperformed in a tough market.

The insurer's profit before tax climbed 9% to £212m, ahead of the average of City analysts' forecast of £208m, with 61.6p earnings per share up 8% and also ahead of expectations of 59p.

Direct Line also got a boost from the numbers.

GlaxoSmithKline was on the rise after saying it had seen positive results from clinical trials of its once-monthly injectable treatment for HIV. GSK's ViiV Healthcare subsidiary's global, phase III ATLAS study showed a two-drug regime, cabotegravir and rilpivirine, injected once a month had similar efficacy to a standard daily, oral three-drug regimen after 48 weeks of treatment.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Admiral Group (ADM) 2,054.00p 2.80%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,580.20p 1.29%
WPP (WPP) 1,235.00p 0.94%
Rightmove (RMV) 4,909.00p 0.31%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 329.90p 0.27%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 2,133.00p 0.19%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 7,030.00p 0.14%
Royal Mail (RMG) 455.45p 0.12%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,428.00p 0.05%
Relx plc (REL) 1,690.00p -0.06%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 922.40p -5.18%
Evraz (EVR) 493.70p -4.62%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,571.60p -4.42%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 849.20p -4.20%
Glencore (GLEN) 303.60p -4.05%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,643.40p -3.42%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,138.00p -3.09%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,668.50p -2.82%
Barclays (BARC) 179.49p -2.43%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 526.60p -2.37%