FTSE 100 movers: Miners and banks lifted by Trump tax trade, metals prices

The FTSE 100 was led higher by miners and banks on Friday, with the blue chip index 0.2% higher by mid-afternoon.

Looking at individual shares, mining heavyweights were among those leading the charge, with Antofagasta top of the tree after copper prices jumped to the highest level in over three years. Anglo American, Rio Tinto, Glencore and BHP Billiton were also on the front foot.

Base metals were generally higher thanks to political developments in the US, despite it boosting the dollar, with banking stocks also given a filip.

Overnight, the US Senate agreed a budget blueprint that should enable Donald Trump's proposed tax-cut package to be pushed through without any need for Democratic support.

The deal goes a long way to paving the way for the $1.5tn US tax cut package, said analyst Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets, and would represent the first major reform from the copper-coloured President's administration following several stumbles, which he said was "seen as supportive of US growth, Fed rate hikes and, of course, equity markets".

Banks were lifted as the tax reform is supportive of Federal Reserve rate hikes, led by Asia-focused Standard Chartered and UK-focused RBS.

Strongly US-focused businesses such as concrete producer CRH and British American Tobacco were both on the front foot, examples of the FTSE 100's strong exposure to dollar earnings.

BATS was also benefitting from a JPMorgan Cazenove outlining a belief in the risk/reward of buying ahead of BAT’s capital markets day next week "clearly skewed to the upside" due to various potential issues.

After their weak results a day and two days earlier respectively, consumer goods giants Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser were continuing to fall on Friday.

Precious metals miner Fresnillo was another faller, however, after being downgraded by Credit Suisse. The fall in gold, amid optimism about US tax reforms and calmer geopolitical waters, which also weighed on Randgold.

Some investors booked out of InterContinental Hotels Group despite the Holiday Inn owner reporting a third quarter of “good” performance, with revenue per available room up 2.3%. This meant for the year-to-date, revpar edged up 2.2% from 2.1% in the first half, including 1.5% in the second quarter.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,536.92 0.18%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,014.00p 2.68%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 767.00p 2.44%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 320.00p 1.91%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,319.00p 1.85%
G4S (GFS) 280.20p 1.78%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 637.00p 1.76%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,879.00p 1.73%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 284.80p 1.68%
Barclays (BARC) 194.95p 1.54%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 661.00p 1.54%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Unilever (ULVR) 4,218.00p -1.88%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,665.00p -1.84%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,400.00p -1.27%
GKN (GKN) 298.80p -1.09%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,058.00p -1.00%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,327.00p -0.98%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,713.00p -0.95%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,943.00p -0.90%
Hammerson (HMSO) 534.00p -0.84%
ITV (ITV) 175.10p -0.74%