FTSE 100 movers: Housebuilders rally on election result; Rolls-Royce retreats
London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.9% at 7,408.42 in afternoon trade on Friday as investors cheered a landslide win for the Tories in the general election.
Stocks with UK exposure were the biggest gainers. Housebuilders Taylor Wimpey, Berkeley Group, Barratt Developments and Persimmon all rose.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said housebuilders were undervalued and caught a bid on hopes that construction will benefit from the Conservative victory.
"We should also consider the potential risk that a Labour government could have posed to their profits being removed," he said.
RBS was among the top risers, while utilities Severn Trent, United Utilities and SSE all advanced as the threat of nationalisation under a Labour government was removed.
British Airways and Iberia parent IAG also flew higher as it was given an added boost from an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ at HSBC.
On the downside, dollar-earner Rolls-Royce was the biggest loser as sterling surged against the greenback.
Rental equipment firm Ashtead, which has significant exposure to the US, was on the back foot, while exporter GlaxoSmithKline also lost ground.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 198.15p 13.81%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 5,100.00p 13.06%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 755.00p 12.52%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 622.40p 11.82%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,800.00p 11.38%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 256.30p 10.33%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,408.00p 8.42%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,005.00p 7.83%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 914.40p 7.78%
SSE (SSE) 1,410.50p 7.71%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 687.80p -2.36%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,177.00p -2.24%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,887.50p -2.10%
Fresnillo (FRES) 578.80p -1.96%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 705.40p -1.75%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,308.00p -1.28%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,496.00p -1.27%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 8,595.00p -1.09%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,729.40p -0.85%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,149.00p -0.78%