FTSE 100 movers: Diageo rallies; ex-dividends weigh
London's FTSE 100 was down 1% at 7,053.70 in afternoon trade on Thursday amid worries about slowing economic growth.
DS Smith, Taylor Wimpey, British American Tobacco, WPP and British Land were all weaker as their stock went ex-dividend.
Bucking the trend, London Stock Exchange was boosted by an upgrade to 'reduce' at Commerzbank.
Diageo was on the front foot as US tariffs on European goods such as Scotch and Irish whiskies were less severe than expected.
Imperial Brands was also higher as it said chief executive Alison Cooper will step down after nine years in the job and 20 at the company, once a suitable successor has been found. The tobacco giant said that while the search for a successor continues, Cooper will focus on driving the performance of the business, including the asset divestment programme, which is expected to realise proceeds of up to £2bn by May 2020.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Often you’ll see a change at the top because a company is going through turmoil, and that is exactly what’s happening with Imperial Brands.
"The cigarette maker, like many of its peers, has bet on smokeless products for the future of its business. Unfortunately regulatory and political pressure has been so intense that the shift to next generation products has been problematic."
FTSE 100 - Risers
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 7,100.00p 1.31%
Diageo (DGE) 3,250.00p 0.98%
SSE (SSE) 1,228.00p 0.66%
SEGRO (SGRO) 789.00p 0.48%
Ferguson (FERG) 6,170.00p 0.29%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,166.00p 0.28%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,833.80p 0.21%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 6,899.00p 0.00%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,590.00p 0.00%
ITV (ITV) 122.10p -0.04%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 323.50p -6.20%
Kingfisher (KGF) 187.85p -4.13%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 149.45p -3.98%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 207.00p -3.45%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,798.50p -3.40%
Evraz (EVR) 425.10p -3.10%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 717.20p -3.08%
WPP (WPP) 954.40p -2.93%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 185.90p -2.92%
British Land Company (BLND) 544.00p -2.89%