FTSE 100 movers: Miners rally but M&S drops on John Lewis numbers

London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.3% to 7,292.23 in afternoon trade on Thursday as investors digested the latest policy announcement from the Bank of England.

Miners were firmer as metals prices rallied, with Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto all higher.

RBS gained on news that it could use £4bn of surplus capital to pay a special one-off dividend to shareholders. Chairman Howard Davies told The Times in an interview that he would prefer to use the spare cash to buy shares back from the government but that the special dividend is an option.

Retailers were in focus, with Marks & Spencer in the red after John Lewis said first-half profits tumbled nearly 99%, with gross margins squeezed by discounting to keep up with competitors as the retailer warned that it continues to expect profit for this year to be "substantially lower" than the last.

Meanwhile, Morrisons fell even as it more than doubled its interim dividend after like-for-like sales in the first half grew at the fastest rate since 2009. Group LFL sales excluding-fuel were up 4.9% in the six months 5 August after an acceleration to 6.3% in the second quarter from the 3.6% in the first.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “The question now is where can Morrisons go from here? There remains some intense pressure from discounters, whilst Tesco has lately announced its own discount chain aimed at countering the German upstarts. Further pressure on margins seems inevitable. Finding new growth avenues like the Amazon tie-up and wholesale business are important but the key remains the core product offering, which Morrisons seems to be pitching just right at the moment.”

SSE was still on the back foot after suffering heavy losses a day earlier on the back of a profit warning.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 1,522.60p 2.46%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 250.40p 2.29%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 775.80p 2.24%
Glencore (GLEN) 301.25p 2.08%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,592.01p 1.63%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 169.10p 1.51%
Evraz (EVR) 481.80p 1.37%
Mondi (MNDI) 2,098.00p 1.35%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,320.00p 1.34%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,596.00p 1.17%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

NMC Health (NMC) 3,610.72p -2.52%
Pearson (PSON) 842.00p -2.27%
SSE (SSE) 1,121.00p -2.27%
WPP (WPP) 1,126.50p -2.17%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 287.70p -1.91%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,643.00p -1.80%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,706.00p -1.51%
ITV (ITV) 159.55p -1.51%
Rightmove (RMV) 478.90p -1.32%
Relx plc (REL) 1,612.50p -1.26%