FTSE 100 movers: Mondi and DS Smith boosted by Jefferies note
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to 7,569.60 in afternoon trade on Wednesday as investors eyed US-China trade talks and digested news of US President Trump's legal woes.
There wasn't a whole lot happening on the corporate front, with the August lull in full swing.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Unhelpful to the London market is the fact that not a single FTSE 100 company has issued corporate results or trading updates on Wednesday. News tends to influence trading volumes."
DS Smith was boosted by a Jefferies note. "Medium term, we expect DS Smith to continue to deliver attractive volume growth (e-commerce tailwind) and to remain a key EU packaging industry consolidator. However, with near-term focus on Europac acquisition & integration, valuation keeps us at hold," it said.
Mondi also rallied as Jefferies said it was a core long-term holding in European paper and packaging, given its structural cost advantages, highest in sector margins, return on capital employed, balance sheet flexibility and confident medium-term growth outlook.
The bank reiterated its 'buy' recommendation on Mondi and lifted the price target to 2,500p from 2,450p.
BHP Billiton was in the green a day after its full-year results. Deutsche Bank said in a note that while the results were "solid", the Queensland coal unit cost guidance for FY19 was higher than it and the market had expected.
"This should be a short term blip, however, alongside Olympic Dam, this division will be a proving ground for management over the next 12+ months in light of recent operational setbacks. FY19 cost guidance across the other major divisions (iron ore, copper, petroleum) was largely in line with our estimates."
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 949.20p 2.04%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,101.00p 1.99%
Mondi (MNDI) 2,158.00p 1.89%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 505.00p 1.67%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,636.00p 1.58%
Glencore (GLEN) 310.95p 1.35%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,084.00p 1.31%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,582.60p 1.29%
ITV (ITV) 166.95p 1.27%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,713.50p 1.27%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
easyJet (EZJ) 1,549.00p -3.91%
NMC Health (NMC) 3,934.00p -3.06%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,532.00p -3.02%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,313.20p -1.94%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 221.40p -1.69%
Centrica (CNA) 143.73p -1.22%
Evraz (EVR) 480.20p -1.21%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 1,078.87p -1.20%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,592.00p -0.96%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 813.60p -0.88%