FTSE 100 movers: Housebuilders rally; Smurfit Kappa falls
London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 7,895.62 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
Housebuilder Barratt Developments was in the black as it reported a jump in profits but cut its dividend, as the housing market started to cool down in response to rising interest rates and mortgage costs. The company reduced the interim dividend by 9% to 10.2p a share as it posted pre-tax profits of £501.5m, up 15.9%, with revenue up 24% to £2.8bn.
Peers Persimmon and Berkeley also rose.
BP advanced for the second day in a row after posting record profits on Tuesday. The stock got an added boost after Barclays lifted its price target on the shares to 1,000p from 700p.
Frasers Group gained after saying said it was no longer going ahead with its acquisition of the Rascal Clothing brand from JD Sports and confirming completion on the purchase of five of the remaining seven premium fashion brands - Cricket, Tessuti, Scotts, Giulio and Choice. JD Sports also gained.
On the downside, corrugated packaging company Smurfit Kappa fell even as it reported a rise in full-year profit and revenue and lifted its final dividend, as it said that inflation had moderated in the latter part of the year. Peers DS Smith and Mondi also lost ground.
FTSE 100 - Risers
BT Group (BT.A) 138.75p 3.74%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,508.50p 3.00%
BP (BP.) 529.40p 2.52%
Halma (HLMA) 2,325.00p 2.38%
Next (NXT) 6,874.00p 2.20%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 504.20p 2.04%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 469.20p 1.98%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,357.00p 1.92%
Unite Group (UTG) 1,032.00p 1.88%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 799.00p 1.78%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,412.00p -2.18%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 357.20p -2.06%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,334.50p -1.55%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,396.00p -1.40%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,541.00p -0.96%
Haleon (HLN) 330.40p -0.87%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,007.00p -0.84%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,084.50p -0.56%
Glencore (GLEN) 548.40p -0.44%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,730.00p -0.42%