FTSE 100 movers: NMC Health falls again; Vodafone boosted by upgrade
London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.7% at 7,453.52 in afternoon trade on Friday.
NMC Health suffered the heaviest losses. Earlier in the week, the Financial Times reported that UAE private healthcare operator’s founder was looking to buy out his Emirati partners and return to an "active leadership position" at the company. Shares of NMC have taken a tumble since US research firm and short-seller Muddy Waters accused the company in December of manipulating its balance sheet to understate debt.
Hargreaves Lansdown lost ground as co-founder Peter Hargreaves sold just under 34.4m shares in the company. Hargreaves sold the shares to institutional investors via an accelerated bookbuild at £16 each, raising gross proceeds of £550m.
He said: "The sale of some of my shares in Hargreaves Lansdown is part of a process of long-term financial planning to diversify my assets. I remain, and will continue to be, a substantial shareholder in Hargreaves Lansdown. I am very proud of the business that I co-founded and helped build."
Miners were under the cosh, with Antofagasta, Glencore, BHP and Anglo American all weaker.
Bucking the trend, Vodafone was sitting pretty at the top of the index after an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Jefferies, which argued that the company’s core business is undervalued.
TUI gained as it agreed to sell its Hapag-Lloyd Cruises business to TUI Cruises, the company's 50:50 joint venture with Royal Caribbean Cruises, for an enterprise value of €1.2bn (£1bn).
FTSE 100 - Risers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 154.60p 2.37%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,906.00p 2.11%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 315.20p 1.32%
SSE (SSE) 1,612.50p 1.26%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,275.00p 1.19%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 579.30p 1.01%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,918.50p 1.00%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 857.40p 0.78%
Ferguson (FERG) 7,362.00p 0.66%
Prudential (PRU) 1,460.00p 0.55%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
NMC Health (NMC) 782.80p -13.02%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,600.00p -6.35%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 848.60p -3.66%
Glencore (GLEN) 232.15p -2.87%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,672.60p -2.80%
Evraz (EVR) 394.00p -2.69%
Carnival (CCL) 3,125.00p -2.65%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,645.00p -2.61%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,033.00p -2.61%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,794.00p -2.56%