FTSE 100 movers: Old Mutual slumps on rand slide; WPP jumps on results

London’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.3% to 6,848.32 in afternoon trading.

Old Mutual, which is also listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, was the worst performer as the South African rand tumbled amid speculation the country’s finance minister could be arrested imminently.

Glencore was in the red after it posted a drop in first-half profit but vowed to keep cutting debt and held out the prospect of a return to dividend payments in 2016.

Glencore’s results, along with weaker commodity prices, weighed on the wider mining sector, with Anglo American, Randgold Resources, Fresnillo, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta all under the cosh.

Paddy Power Betfair was also on the back foot as its maiden interim results showed a rise in revenue of 18% on a pro forma basis to £759m, as a relatively soft first quarter hit by unfriendly sporting results saw a boost from the Euro 2016 football tournament lift sales 20% in the second.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals was weaker after it reported a jump in first-half revenues but a drop in operating profit, as it reiterated its full-year revenue guidance.

On the upside, advertising giant WPP was the standout gainer after it reported better-than-expected headline pre-tax profit and organic sales growth for the first half.

Headline pre-tax profit was up 15.8% to £690m, or 11.7% at constant currency, surpassing consensus expectations of £675m.

Meanwhile, reported revenue rose 11.9% to £6.5bn, which was above consensus of £6bn, boosted by a weaker pound.

The company said it saw like-for-like sales growth of 3.8%, which was a significant improvement over the first quarter growth rate of 3.2% and ahead of expectations of around 3.2% growth.

Lloyds was higher as it emerged that boss Antonio Horta Osorio has sent a memo to his staff to apologise for ‘adverse publicity’ following reports of an affair.

Housebuilders were on the front foot again, with sentiment towards the sector still boosted by Persimmon’s results on Tuesday.

Persimmon posted a better-than-expected jump in first-half pre-tax profit as it shrugged off Brexit uncertainty.

Pre-tax profit rose 29% to £352.3m in the six months to 30 June on a 12% increase in revenue to £1.49bn. Analysts at Deutsche Bank had anticipated a 26% increase in pre-tax profits to £345m.

International Consolidated Airlines Group flew higher following a well-received set of results from Australian peer Qantas Airways.

Risers

WPP (WPP) 1,856.00p 6.24%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 59.26p 2.90%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,675.00p 2.82%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 499.60p 2.76%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,918.00p 2.57%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,706.00p 2.15%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 401.70p 2.14%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 168.50p 2.06%
Barclays (BARC) 167.40p 1.70%
Kingfisher (KGF) 372.00p 1.67%

Fallers

Old Mutual (OML) 193.80p -5.23%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 1,017.00p -4.78%
Glencore (GLEN) 180.95p -4.66%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 9,650.00p -3.02%
Anglo American (AAL) 850.20p -2.96%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,810.00p -2.62%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,789.00p -2.56%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,252.00p -2.21%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,405.00p -1.84%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 545.50p -1.45%