FTSE 100 movers: Unscheduled trading update hits supermarkets

Tesco surprised the market with another profit warning, causing shares to plummet. The company said trading profit for the financial year ending February 2015 is not expected to exceed £1.4bn, compared with £3.315bn previously and analysts' forecasts, which ranged from £1.8bn to £2.2bn.

Supermarket rival Morrison also dropped sharply following the unscheduled trading update.

Intertek was among the fallers after Credit Suisse downgraded the quality and safety services provider to ‘neutral’, from ‘outperform’. The broker’s ranking came after revising its organic growth forecasts and noting that its earnings per share estimate for 2015 is now 4% below IBES consensus.

Coca-Cola took a hit after concerns rose about its operations in Greece and Russia, given the countries’ economic problems. The soft drinks producer was also ordered to pay legal fines to rival Pepsi. The charge came after Coca-Cola issued a challenge against the use of a similar glass bottle design, which came to a close on Tuesday after a four year court battle.

Petrofac’s prices dropped, as despite an edging up of Brent crude prices, oil companies remained under pressure.

G4S saw share prices move upwards after Credit Suisse analysts moved their recommendation from ‘neutral’ to ‘outperform’ and raised their target price from 245p to 320p. The bank said: “We think there is significant opportunity within the business to reduce cost and improve efficiency. GFS is, we think, a combination of an attractive multi-year self-help story plus a stock for which organic growth should accelerate into 2015.”

Rangold Resources continued to rise after Monday’s upgrade from Deutsche Bank, from 'hold' to 'buy'.

Risers

Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,294.00p +2.58%
G4S (GFS) 280.50p +2.37%
Fresnillo (FRES) 721.50p +0.84%
Royal Mail (RMG) 400.90p +0.38%

Fallers

Tesco (TSCO) 172.50p -7.90%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,176.00p -6.00%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 175.10p -5.30%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,329.00p -5.27%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,352.00p -4.85%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,487.00p -4.74%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 736.00p -4.04%
Barclays (BARC) 238.20p -3.62%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 445.20p -3.57%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,647.00p -3.40%