FTSE 100 movers: Retailers, housebuilders lead gains
Retailers Kingfisher, Sports Direct and Next were occupying the top 10 on the FTSE on Tuesday, while housebuilders were also performing well as forecasts for a rate hike were pushed back after the inflation figures.
Persimmon moved higher after pleasing with a 57% jumped in first-half profits, while other stocks such as Barratt Developments were also higher.
However, building materials group CRH underwhelmed with its own interim results. The company swung to a profit in the first half, as favourable weather in Europe and an ongoing recovery in the States helped to offset difficult conditions in the wider Americas region.
Imperial Tobacco was up after it maintained its full-year guidance for "modest" earnings growth despite revenues slipping in the first nine months. Total reported volumes were down 8% in the first three quarters ended 30 June reflecting the company's "stock optimisation programme", while underlying tobacco volumes were 5% lower and so broadly in line with the industry.
Details of BHP Billiton's hotly-anticipated "portfolio simplification" were unveiled on Tuesday morning but failed to excite the market with the stock slipping sharply into the red. According to analysts, shareholders were likely disappointed that the demerger didn't result in a one-off capital return. The miner announced plans to create an independent company comprising its aluminium, coal, manganese, nickel and silver assets. At the same time the company also reported a 10% rise in underlying attributable profit to $13.4bn for the 12 months to 30 June.
Fellow miners such as Fresnillo, Glencore and Anglo American also fell into negative territory.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Kingfisher (KGF) 309.40p +3.34%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 725.00p +3.13%
3i Group (III) 391.00p +2.73%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 367.50p +2.60%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,331.00p +2.31%
ITV (ITV) 212.00p +2.17%
GKN (GKN) 351.10p +2.15%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,580.00p +2.14%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 358.20p +1.99%
Next (NXT) 7,045.00p +1.95%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,972.00p -4.60%
Fresnillo (FRES) 979.00p -2.39%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,031.00p -2.18%
CRH (CRH) 1,437.00p -1.30%
Rexam (REX) 493.30p -1.16%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,249.00p -0.97%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,586.00p -0.81%
Glencore (GLEN) 361.65p -0.67%
Meggitt (MGGT) 466.50p -0.51%
G4S (GFS) 263.60p -0.49%
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