FTSE 100 movers: Housebuilders slump on Budget; StanChart rallies

London's FTSE 100 was up 0.5% to 7,447.38 in afternoon trade on Wednesday, as investors digested Chancellor Philip Hammond's Autumn Budget.

Standard Chartered was the standout gainer following a Reuters report that it is close to selling its real estate principal finance unit to private equity firm Actis and is in discussions to sell its private equity unit.

B&Q owner Kingfisher racked up healthy gains as Jefferies upped its stance on the stock to 'buy' from 'hold'.

"Investment attractions are improving as disruption reduces and evidence of positive sales response to ONE product builds. The potential for a positive inflection in French market share and resilience to UK cyclical risks should be better valued," it said.

Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser was also on the front foot as JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded the stock to 'overweight' from 'neutral', saying the risk/reward is now skewed to the upside.

"While the top end of our valuation range is likely to be weighed on the progress of M&A/disposals on a 12-18 month basis, we see a short term relief potential to £75, hence our upgrade to overweight."

Budget carrier EasyJet flew higher as Investec upped the stock to 'buy' from 'hold' despite disappointing results on Tuesday. The brokerage highlighted the company's "encouraging" guidance and potential purchase of fallen rival Air Berlin - which would give the carrier another market leading position.

Precious metals miner Fresnillo shone as the price of gold rose.

Going the other way, housebuilders Barratt Developments, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley Group were under the cosh as Hammond announced a range of new housing policies, including more funds for smaller housebuilders, a probe into potential holding of land by major housebuilders and a stamp duty cut for first-time buyers.

As well as commissioning an "urgent review" chaired by MP Oliver Letwin to look at the gap between planning permissions granted and the number of housing starts made, Hammond said the government wanted to avoid being dependent on the major national housebuilders.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Standard Chartered (STAN) 750.06p 3.74%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,341.00p 3.71%
Kingfisher (KGF) 319.60p 3.60%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,756.50p 3.43%
Old Mutual (OML) 197.30p 3.30%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 724.50p 2.99%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,590.00p 2.95%
BT Group (BT.A) 251.45p 2.42%
SSE (SSE) 1,374.00p 2.38%
ITV (ITV) 150.40p 2.38%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Barratt Developments (BDEV) 614.50p -3.00%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,612.00p -2.36%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 193.80p -1.57%
Prudential (PRU) 1,890.00p -1.31%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 425.00p -1.07%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,716.00p -1.04%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,744.00p -0.97%
Schroders (SDR) 3,498.00p -0.93%
DCC (DCC) 7,090.00p -0.91%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,919.00p -0.88%