FTSE 100 movers: NatWest rallies after results; Ocado falls
London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 5,548.04 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Online supermarket Ocado lost ground, having gained earlier in the week amid expectations of a boost to demand from a potential second lockdown.
Going the other way, NatWest was the top riser after it reported better-than-expected third-quarter profits and made lower bad debt provisions relating to the coronavirus pandemic. The bank posted a £355m pre-tax profit for the three months to September 30, compared to estimates of £75m, while bad loan provisions came in at £254m, compared to the £628m forecast.
Royal Dutch Shell was also higher, boosted by an upgrade to ‘equalweight’ from ‘underweight’ at Barclays, which pointed to "an opportunity in change".
The bank said that in presenting a new financial framework this week, Shell has addressed its key concern, hence the upgrade.
"The new framework sets clear priorities for dividend growth, debt reduction, additional shareholder returns and further growth capex," it said. "On our own numbers we expect Shell to hit its new target net debt level in at the end of 2021 with the potential for $2-6bn (2-7%) extra returns to shareholders per year beyond this."
British Airways owner IAG was up as it called on governments to adopt pre-departure Covid-19 testing as it continued to bear down on costs in the face of a second wave of the pandemic.
The airline group, which issued more details on third quarter trading after last week reporting a €1.3bn third quarter loss, said its results were "exacerbated by constantly changing government restrictions". The total figure came to €1.9bn including exceptional items relating to fuel hedges and job cuts.
FTSE 100 - Risers
NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 122.65p 4.69%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 964.20p 3.38%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 93.94p 3.14%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 925.20p 2.99%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 354.50p 2.75%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 223.90p 2.66%
WPP (WPP) 611.00p 1.87%
BT Group (BT.A) 100.75p 1.64%
BP (BP.) 196.54p 1.59%
CRH (CRH) 2,725.00p 1.53%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,272.00p -3.32%
Avast (AVST) 476.00p -2.70%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 524.40p -2.60%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 70.70p -2.35%
Next (NXT) 5,830.00p -2.35%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,045.00p -2.20%
Relx plc (REL) 1,508.00p -2.11%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,630.00p -2.07%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 994.50p -2.02%
BAE Systems (BA.) 397.80p -1.87%