FTSE 100 movers: Airlines and housebuilders drop but BT on the rise
London's FTSE 100 was down 0.2% to 7,667.26 in afternoon trade on Monday, off earlier lows but still the red amid weakness in the housebuilding and airline sectors, with Trump's latest Twitter threat to Iran undermining sentiment.
BT was among the top gainers as the government said it will spend up to £5bn to bring full fibre broadband to all parts of Britain by 2033.
BHP Billiton was also on the front foot after said it would defend a class action brought by investors over the Samarco dam disaster of 2015 that killed 19 people and devastated communities. The claim, backed by about 3,000 investors and served in Australia, alleges BHP breached disclosure obligations and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
On the downside, airlines EasyJet and International Consolidated Airlines flew lower after budget carrier Ryanair posted a 20% drop in first-quarter pre-tax profit as higher costs and strikes took their toll. Pre-tax profit fell to €345.4m, while profit after tax was also down 20%, to €397m. Revenue rose 9% to €1.9bn as ancillary revenue pushed up 25%, while and passenger numbers grew 7% to 37.6m.
Chief executive officer Michael O'Leary attributed the drop in profit to lower fares, the absence of Easter in the quarter, higher oil price and pilot costs.
Hargreaves Lansdown was also under pressure as Jefferies downgraded the stock to 'underperform' from 'hold' on valuation grounds, saying the shares currently look overvalued.
"Even including 2019e total forecast dividend of 51.1p we have close to 15% downside from the current share price," Jefferies said.
In a note on asset managers and in light of last week's news that the Financial Conduct Authority is considering banning online investment platforms such as Hargreaves from charging exit fees, the bank pointed out that HL does not benefit greatly from exit fees.
"The point about HL is that in fact very few clients leave and therefore it is safe to assume that a fraction of a percent of revenue is derived from exit fees. On the negative side, we could say that anything that promotes greater switching is negative for HL’s rating.
"We have always stated that its premium rating is in part explainable by the fact its clients are highly persistent. But on the positive side HL, given that it actually gains market share, is a beneficiary of industry transfers."
Housebuilders were the standout losers in terms of sectors, with Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon all weaker.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,119.75p 3.39%
WPP (WPP) 1,185.00p 2.60%
BT Group (BT.A) 223.35p 1.78%
Centrica (CNA) 154.70p 1.38%
Just Eat (JE.) 873.20p 1.18%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,433.00p 1.00%
DCC (DCC) 7,085.00p 0.93%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,563.60p 0.89%
Evraz (EVR) 527.00p 0.84%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,622.60p 0.57%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 172.65p -2.57%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 518.80p -2.55%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,578.00p -2.29%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,449.00p -2.20%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 672.60p -2.12%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 2,081.00p -2.02%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,249.50p -1.92%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 497.10p -1.76%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,868.00p -1.65%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,657.00p -1.30%