FTSE 100 movers: StanChart impresses, Next and GSK fall

NMC Health, the operator of hospitals and clinics in the Gulf area, was top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard on Wednesday, with Fresnillo at the other end of the scale.

There was no news from the company apart from the £34,755 purchase of shares by director Jonathan Bomford.

A day earlier, analysts at Jefferies had raised their target price to 3,411p from 3,291p after attending the company's investor day earlier this month, which covered high level strategy, IVF clinics, Saudi Arabia strategy and financials. "Management presentations were impressive and focused on growth," the analysts said, nudging up their EBITDA but still awaiting confirmation of the recently announced Saudi joint venture.

Copper miner Antofagasta and commodities giant Glencore were both high up the leaderboard, with miners enjoying a better week after months on the slide. ANTO, in particular, has lost more than a third of its value since hitting a multi-year high in early June.

Broker SP Angel noted comments from Antofagasta that it expects weakness in copper prices to be limited to the near-term and highlight short sightedness over concerns of global trade and softer economic growth. The copper producer said demand and supply had been fairly balanced in 2018 and was seen moving into deficit next year, lifting prices “much closer” to $3/lb.

Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered posted a 31% jump in underlying profit to to $1.07bn for the third quarter, driven by lower impairments and costs, but warned on risks from current trade tensions.

Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "In the short term these numbers are better than expected, with underlying profits beating market expectations. However the longer term concern is that Standard Chartered continues to shrink.

"Standard Chartered is lending more profitably, and with fewer defaults, but ultimately banks only make money on what they lend, and loans to customers are shrinking. That’s a touch surprising, since the bank’s emerging market customers are growing quickly and should be crying out for funding. With plenty of capital now on hand, Standard Chartered is more than capable of meeting demand for loans.

Precious metals miner Fresnillo led the fallers as gold endured another sell-off on the back of the firmer US dollar.

"This week, the metal has handed back the gains in made in the previous 2 weeks. The rebound in stocks around the world has also put pressure on gold as the metal attracted funds when investors were in risk-off mode," said David Madden at CMC Markets.

Shares in retailer Next were also lower as decline in store sales was reported for the third quarter, though a solid online performance saved the retailer from a true horror-show.

Market analyst Neil Wilson at Markets.com said the continued reliance on online to make up for store weakness "raises the question about when management seeks to rationalise its store estate in recognition of the shift in where revenues and profits are being generated".

Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline was in the red despite a good-looking set of third-quarter numbers, which initially lifted the shares. The results saw CEO Emma Walmsley tighten up guidance for full year earnings after a strong launch for the new Shingrix shingles vaccine helped revenue and earnings beat City estimates.

Walmsley hailed the sales growth in all three businesses, pharma, vaccines and consumer healthcare, with improvements in underlying group operating margin thanks in part to better cost control.

"Looking further ahead, we remain confident in our ability to deliver the group outlooks for sales and EPS growth we previously set for the period 2016-2020."

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,128.57 1.32%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,914.60 1.32%
techMARK (TASX) 3,298.71 0.84%

FTSE 100 - Risers

NMC Health (NMC) 3,569.24p 6.35%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,955.00p 5.28%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 796.00p 5.24%
Glencore (GLEN) 317.80p 4.38%
Evraz (EVR) 545.60p 4.08%
BP (BP.) 567.90p 4.01%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 553.50p 3.90%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,808.00p 3.85%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 169.50p 3.73%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,721.00p 3.53%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 836.40p -3.60%
Next (NXT) 5,182.00p -2.34%
National Grid (NG.) 831.10p -2.14%
BT Group (BT.A) 238.50p -2.11%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,505.40p -2.09%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,862.00p -2.00%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 294.00p -1.93%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 725.00p -1.81%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,393.00p -1.60%
Centrica (CNA) 147.34p -1.51%