FTSE 100 movers: InterContinental rallies but housebuilders take a hit
London's FTSE 100 was up 1% to 7,599.18 in afternoon trade on Thursday, taking a leg higher in the second half of the session after breaching the 7,600 mark and posting a new all-time high amid low volumes.
InterContinental Hotels Group was on the front foot after the Holiday Inn owner commented on the impact of the US tax reform bill. Based on initial estimates, the Republican tax reforms are expected to reduce IHG's group effective tax rate "by mid to high single digit percentage points" from 1 January 2018. For 2017, IHG's group effective tax rate is still expected to be in the low 30s.
Going the other way, housebuilders Berkeley and Persimmon were weaker after the Department for Communities and Local Government's proposal to set all ground rents to zero.
IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: "The fear is that the big players will cut back on their building programmes, while the move could well spark some legal challenges as well."
WPP was also in the red as Redburn recommended investors sell shares in the advertising agency and its French rival Publicis.
"Bluntly, agencies are facing growing end market pressure, price deflation in account reviews and new competition from niche digital specialists, consultancies, ad tech and CRM/Enterprise software companies and finally, global media giants (Google, Facebook, Amazon)."
Risers
Mediclinic International (MDC) 618.00p 5.28%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,838.00p 3.65%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,465.50p 2.16%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,705.00p 2.15%
Next (NXT) 4,382.00p 2.07%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 5,006.00p 1.75%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,692.00p 1.64%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 424.82p 1.61%
Old Mutual (OML) 224.80p 1.58%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,512.50p 1.51%
Fallers
United Utilities Group (UU.) 814.50p -1.39%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,907.60p -1.01%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,170.00p -0.95%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,700.00p -0.81%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,725.00p -0.63%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,748.00p -0.63%
Carnival (CCL) 4,934.00p -0.60%
WPP (WPP) 1,345.00p -0.59%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,730.00p -0.53%
Centrica (CNA) 137.60p -0.51%