FTSE 100 movers: Persimmon rises but Vodafone and Sainsburys go ex-div
London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,730.09 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Housebuilder Persimmon was in the black after data from mortgage lender Halifax showed that annual house price growth in the UK softened in May, as expected.
House prices were up 1.9% in the three months to May compared to a year ago, down from 2.2% growth in April but in line with expectations. On a monthly basis, prices were up 1.5% last month following a 3.1% drop in April, beating expectations for a 1% gain.
Compared with the preceding three months, house prices were 0.2% higher.
On the downside, Vodafone and Sainsbury’s were weaker as their stock went ex-dividend, while Mediclinic and Marks & Spencer were down after downgrades from Investec and AlphaValue, respectively.
Paddy Power was also under the cosh as Credit Suisse cut the stock to ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’, saying that enthusiasm around the US opening and its recent deal with FanDuel is overdone.
"While its performance is steadying, the company has been a market share donor in its core UK market for the last 18 months, prompting downgrades to numbers as it seeks to recover lost market share by pumping in marketing dollars. We believe the US is a substantial opportunity and that FanDuel increases the likelihood of PPB taking a significant share of the market.
"However, even after reflecting this in our valuation, we see 12% downside from the current share price. If we include very optimistic US sport-betting assumptions, we get to our Blue Sky valuation of 10,900p, just 20% above the current share price, convincing us we have a reasonable margin of safety in recommending an underperform position."
FTSE 100 - Risers
Sage Group (SGE) 686.00p 2.24%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,434.50p 1.90%
NMC Health (NMC) 3,502.00p 1.80%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 531.57p 1.74%
WPP (WPP) 1,232.00p 1.73%
Royal Mail (RMG) 494.80p 1.66%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,624.50p 1.65%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,900.00p 1.54%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 783.00p 1.53%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,701.50p 1.46%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 189.74p -3.50%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 303.01p -3.22%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,554.50p -2.84%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 574.80p -2.41%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,136.00p -1.88%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 287.80p -1.61%
Old Mutual (OML) 228.76p -1.57%
BT Group (BT.A) 201.95p -1.56%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,725.00p -1.41%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,733.00p -1.33%