FTSE 100 movers: Ferguson falls on update; precious metals miners shine
London's FTSE 100 was down 0.3% to 7,043.99 in afternoon trade on Tuesday as investors continued to grapple with the latest Brexit-related headlines.
Heating and plumbing equipment supplier Ferguson was on the back foot even as it reported an 8.5% rise in first quarter revenue as North American operations offset a fall in the UK.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Despite renaming its business from Wolseley to Ferguson last year to reflect the importance of this US brand, the plumbing and heating products distributor can’t entirely escape the problems dogging its UK division.
"Revenue and profit from this part of the group was down markedly in the first quarter of the current financial year.
"Although this shouldn’t detract from a strong showing for the substantially more material US arm, it does leave the company’s fortunes very much tied to the American economy, even if it is also looking to expand in Canada."
BAE Systems was among the fallers as it was downgraded to 'neutral' from 'buy' by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, while Standard Chartered took a hit from a downgrade to 'hold' at Investec.
On the upside, precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources shone as gold prices rallied, supported by a weaker US dollar.
Software company Sage Group advanced as it appointed former LSE and Close Brothers executive Jonathan Howell as its new chief financial officer.
BT Group was on the rise as Goldman Sachs upped the stock to 'buy' from 'neutral', saying its 10% discount to sector peers is "increasingly unwarranted" as the group starts to deliver earnings momentum with improving regulatory clarity.
"BT's cost transformation (FY19-21E) is already paying dividends, and the bottom-up nature of the plan should minimise future execution risk ahead of a new CEO in 2019, alongside the longer-term opportunity for digital cost-cutting," said Goldman.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 802.20p 3.97%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,454.00p 3.10%
Sage Group (SGE) 595.00p 2.76%
BT Group (BT.A) 262.90p 2.46%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,463.50p 1.99%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 820.40p 1.71%
Evraz (EVR) 496.46p 1.57%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 848.40p 1.41%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,516.20p 1.21%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 332.60p 1.16%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,116.00p -4.68%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 741.50p -4.57%
Ferguson (FERG) 4,964.00p -4.52%
BAE Systems (BA.) 479.03p -4.39%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,114.00p -4.09%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 332.10p -3.66%
ITV (ITV) 138.95p -3.24%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 608.30p -3.04%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 177.90p -2.97%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 840.00p -2.69%