FTSE 100 movers: BHP under the cosh but Melrose rallies on results
London's FTSE 100 was down 0.7% at 7,259.37 in afternoon trade on Thursday, underperforming its peers in Europe as sterling was boosted by a series of defeats for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
BHP Group suffered the heaviest losses as it urged shareholders to reject two resolutions that would force the miner to cut its ties with industry lobbying groups whose aims contradict the Paris climate change accord.
Software company Micro Focus and miner Glencore were on the back foot as their stock went ex-dividend.
Going the other way, turnaround specialist Melrose Industries was the top performer as it posted a rise in interim pre-tax profit and hiked its dividend by 10% thanks to a solid performance from its aerospace division.
In the six months to the end of June, adjusted pre-tax profit increased to £428m from £244m in the first half of last year, on revenue of £6bn, up from £3bn. On a statutory basis, pre-tax losses narrowed to £128m from £372m.
The company, which bought engineer GKN last year for £8.1bn, said trading was in line with its expectations for 2019, with the three main segments of GKN set to achieve their targets.
RBS was in the green a day after announcing that a last-minute, higher-than-expected spike in claims for payment protection insurance would result in an extra change of £600m to £900m in the third quarter.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Melrose Industries (MRO) 197.90p 6.87%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,743.00p 5.74%
St James's Place (STJ) 962.20p 3.96%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 190.55p 3.61%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 153.51p 3.44%
ITV (ITV) 120.20p 3.14%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 888.60p 3.11%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 230.50p 2.99%
Aviva (AV.) 363.50p 2.29%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 345.20p 1.65%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
BHP Group (BHP) 1,738.40p -3.70%
Fresnillo (FRES) 746.40p -2.88%
Diageo (DGE) 3,508.75p -2.88%
Relx plc (REL) 1,946.00p -2.76%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,079.00p -2.61%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 7,200.00p -2.58%
National Grid (NG.) 845.90p -2.49%
Glencore (GLEN) 237.00p -2.45%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,080.60p -2.40%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,705.60p -2.26%