FTSE 100 movers: Persimmon update lifts builders, JP Morgan dents insurers
Housebuilding shares led the FTSE 100 higher for the second day, with Persimmon head of the pack as it issued a bullish year-end update.
Ahead of full year results due on 27 February, Persimmon said revenues for calendar 2016 were 8% ahead of the previous year, as sales growth for the second half came in at 15% and the average selling price of a home climbing 4% to £206,700.
Analyst Neil Wilson at ETX Capital said these were "exciting times" for the sector, with accommodative environment – rising demand, undersupply of new homes, ultra-low interest rates and good mortgage availability.
Coming a day after strong UK construction data, which showed residential housing activity expanding at its fastest since January, and a bullish note from Deutsche Bank, sector peers Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments were again also on the leaderboard.
Following lazily on the heels of Ryanair's strong December traffic stats earlier in the week, EasyJet was second highest riser, helped by a 'buy' note from analysts at Alphavalue. The equity research boutique set a target price of 1,405p.
EasyJet was also highlighted in a note from Citi as one of its key UK stocks for 2017, a list that also includes Astrazeneca, BHP Billiton, Dixons Carphone, Tesco, Direct Line, Johnson Matthey, Standard Chartered, Pearson, Rolls Royce, Sage and Shire.
Primark-owner Associated British Foods and Marks & Spencer were both on the front foot ahead of trading updates due next Thursday, having been hit hard by read-across from Next's grim warnings about the clothing sector on Wednesday.
The biggest faller was Rolls-Royce, which saw JPMorgan Cazenove cut its target price on the shares to 730p from 890p after it trimmed it earnings estimates for next year by 10%. This came on the heels of a recent announcement by Airbus that it would be delaying the delivery of a number of its Airbus A380’s to Emirates Airlines, which use the Rolls Royce Trent engines.
Legal & General, Prudential and RSA Insurance were also victims of JPM.
RSA was downgraded to 'neutral' from 'overweight' as part of the investment bank's look at the European insurance sector, where it pointed out the attractive dividend yields, well underpinned by strong free cash flow, though RSA had already gained more than a third last year.
"We continue to avoid stocks such as Prudential and LGEN, as in our view their positive macro gearing is now more than reflected in valuations," analysts added, with Standard Life not rated.
Royal Mail was down as it began a consultation process with the active members of the Royal Mail Pension Plan and its trade unions, about the company's proposal for the future of the plan from April 2018.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,201.31 0.16%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,306.76 0.86%
techMARK (TASX) 3,423.08 1.02%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Persimmon (PSN) 1,925.00p 6.35%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,052.00p 4.26%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 168.10p 4.15%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 1,992.00p 3.75%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,696.00p 3.30%
International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) 463.40p 3.18%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 498.40p 3.00%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,926.00p 2.77%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 340.80p 2.65%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 330.20p 2.10%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 638.50p -4.34%
Standard Life (SL.) 370.00p -2.19%
Prudential (PRU) 1,607.50p -2.10%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 247.50p -1.86%
Royal Mail (RMG) 456.50p -1.55%
Tesco (TSCO) 202.50p -1.46%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 569.00p -1.22%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,074.00p -0.96%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,455.00p -0.95%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,459.00p -0.95%