FTSE 100 movers: Land Securities rallies on Intu news; Anto drops on downgrade
London's FTSE 100 was down 1.1% to 7,337.32 in afternoon trade on Friday as investors digested a weaker-than-expected US nonfarm payrolls report.
Land Securities and British Land rallied as it emerged that one of the senior directors of shopping centre owner Intu Properties is leading a consortium of investment companies to buy company. Deputy chairman John Whittaker's Peel Group has teamed up with Saudi conglomerate Olayan Group and Canary Wharf owner Brookfield Property Group to launch possible offer for Intu.
Rentokil Initial was on the front foot after Stifel lifted its stance on the stock to 'buy' from 'hold' and boosted the price target to 410p from 350p.
Intertek edged higher as Berenberg upped the inspection, product testing and certification company to 'buy' from 'hold'.
"We think Intertek’s recent share price action leaves investors with an attractive entry point into a well-run business with attractive end-market exposure within the TIC industry," the bank said.
On the downside, Antofagasta retreated after a downgrade to 'sell' by Goldman Sachs, which highlighted a stretched valuation and uncompelling growth options.
Royal Mail was weaker after Citi cut it to 'sell' from 'neutral' and slashed the price target to 300p from 485p as it said the outlook remains challenging even after the recent reset.
Citi said that while the recent profit warning prompted a share price drop of around 25%, this has only served to highlight ongoing risks that company faces in the near term. In addition, it said that despite the "significant reset", the shares are still more expensive than some European postal peers.
Rightmove retreated after data from mortgage lender Halifax showed house prices fell last month at their fastest pace since April. Prices were down 1.4% on the month following a 0.2% drop in August, missing expectations of a 0.2% increase. August's growth was revised down from 0.1%.
On the year, prices were 2.5% higher compared to a 3.7% increase in August, falling short of expectations of a 3.3% gain.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Land Securities Group (LAND) 855.20p 1.79%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 334.00p 1.71%
Informa (INF) 748.60p 1.27%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,290.00p 1.24%
British Land Company (BLND) 583.80p 1.21%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,797.00p 0.98%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,812.00p 0.93%
Mondi (MNDI) 2,011.00p 0.65%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 463.40p 0.54%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,774.00p 0.51%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 829.40p -5.17%
Royal Mail (RMG) 337.15p -4.84%
Kingfisher (KGF) 243.70p -4.77%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 807.60p -4.29%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,672.00p -4.08%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,756.00p -3.73%
Fresnillo (FRES) 786.20p -3.46%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,643.80p -3.42%
Rightmove (RMV) 451.65p -3.05%
Glencore (GLEN) 323.50p -2.85%