FTSE 100 movers: Hargreaves hit by app concerns, Kingfisher bounces

London's blue chip equity benchmark was flat on Tuesday afternoon, with a grocer top of the list and a retail investment platform at the bottom.

Some investors seemed to get the jitters about Hargreaves Lansdown after America's biggest bank fired a broadside at the retail investing industry with a new digital investing service. JP Morgan Chase's 'You Invest' app will offer 100 free trades in the first year, alongside a portfolio-building tool and free access to the bank's equity research.

Chief executive officer Jamie Dimon had hinted at the prospect in 2016, citing Amazon's free Prime services as inspiration: "If you're a good account, it's no different than Jeff Bezos doing the $99 Prime and adding services to it."

JP Morgan said it was targeting people who have never invested before, including millennials, and people who have a JP Morgan Chase account but invest elsewhere. While JP Morgan's private banking franchise in the UK focuses on wealth management services to ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, the wider group has a large presence in the City of London and news of a new model in the industry was enough to knock a few pennies off Hargreaves' share price.

Compass Group pulled back after hitting a new 52-week high the day before, capping a near 19% gain since the start of April.

Miners were among the bottom-dwellers on Tuesday, led by BHP Billiton, even though the world's biggest miner declared a record final dividend as higher prices and volumes sent underlying annual profit up by a third.

However, underlying profit for the year to 30 June rose to $8.9bn from $6.7bn a year earlier, which was below the $9.25bn consensus analyst forecast.

The strong dollar, weak Chinese data and concerns about emerging markets have weighed on the shares of BHP and other miners in recent days, though the greenback was wobbling after President Trump weighed in with his opinions on currency markets.

On the upside, Wm Morrison Supermarkets was top of the leaderboard as it was revealed to have again been the fastest-growing of the big four grocers in recent weeks and managed to hold off the discounters from taking any of its market share since last year.

Morrisons grew sales 2.7%, according to Kantar, again the fastest-growing of the big four supermarkets as the Bradford-based group cut back on promotions and gained 231,000 new shoppers, 66% of which were more affluent ABC1 customers. Morrisons managed to hold onto its 10.4% market share from a year ago, having regained ground earlier in the summer.

Ocado shares were also up as it achieved sales growth of 8.5% and increased market share to 1.2%, while Sainsbury's remained the laggard among the Big Four but its 1.2% rate of growth was the best it had produced since January. The grocer was boosted by a strong online performance and the growth of its premium ‘Taste the Difference’ range.

Retailer Kingfisher was up as some investors spied value with the shares having sunk to a six-year low this month.

British Gas owner Centrica was up as reports came through that British wholesale gas prices were on the up due to flows being curbed by strike action at three North Sea oil and gas fields. Reuters reported that the UK gas system was undersupplied.

While SSE was in the red, United Utilities was on the leaderboard amid some positive words from strategists at Credit Suisse, who said they were still 'overweight' on defensive stocks. "Positioning in cyclicals is still quite high and earnings revisions of cyclicals are deteriorating relative to defensives. Global sector risk appetite remains above its historical norm."

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,590.61 -0.01%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,633.55 0.50%
techMARK (TASX) 3,555.74 0.10%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 269.25p 2.07%
Kingfisher (KGF) 274.50p 1.59%
Centrica (CNA) 147.05p 1.55%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,073.00p 1.32%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 753.00p 1.16%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 338.33p 1.15%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 246.40p 1.03%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 321.00p 0.98%
WPP (WPP) 1,310.50p 0.96%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,053.00p 0.93%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 2,172.00p -1.32%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,686.50p -1.29%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,427.50p -1.11%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,629.20p -0.97%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,332.00p -0.85%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,687.50p -0.81%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,755.00p -0.73%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 1,097.00p -0.72%
Just Eat (JE.) 776.80p -0.64%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 920.50p -0.59%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Wood Group (John) (WG.) 706.60p 6.83%
Rank Group (RNK) 170.60p 4.02%
Aggreko (AGK) 874.71p 3.86%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,956.50p 2.81%
SIG (SHI) 125.40p 2.70%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 122.80p 2.59%
Elementis (ELM) 266.20p 2.46%
Capita (CPI) 142.20p 2.45%
Redrow (RDW) 545.91p 2.42%
Card Factory (CARD) 181.80p 2.42%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,087.00p -4.65%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 279.25p -3.37%
Indivior (INDV) 262.40p -3.28%
Genus (GNS) 2,786.00p -2.11%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 83.40p -1.94%
CYBG (CYBG) 343.20p -1.49%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 364.80p -1.38%
Bodycote (BOY) 1,004.00p -1.28%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 2,946.00p -1.27%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 544.50p -1.27%