FTSE 100 movers: Miners shine; GKN lower on pensions row
A strengthening of the dollar and higher copper prices boosted mining stocks and kept the FTSE 100 in the green on Monday.
A weaker pound tends to underpin the top-flight index as around 70% of its constituents derive most of their earnings from overseas.
A strong performance from the heavily-weighted mining sector also lent a hand as copper prices advanced, helping to push shares in Glencore, Rio Tinto, Antofagasta and Anglo American higher, even though usual effect of a stronger dollar is to push down commodities prices.
Anglo American also got a lift after rose after announcing the sale of the New Largo thermal coal project and Old New Largo closed colliery in South Africa for ZAR 850m ($71m).
GKN nudged a touch lower as it looked to clear up a dispute over its pensions deficit as it battles to stave off a hostile takeover from smaller rival Melrose Industries.
The FTSE 100 group said its group pension scheme's deficit stood at £0.7bn on one basis of accounting at the end of December, or could be as low as £0.4bn on an actuarial basis or as high as £1.4bn if gilt yields do not rise.
EasyJet flew lower after a downgrade to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein, while Diageo dropped after a downgrade to ‘sector perform’ at RBC Capital Markets.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,671.37 0.08%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,689.43 0.36%
techMARK (TASX) 3,485.67 0.39%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Glencore (GLEN) 411.50p 2.39%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,033.50p 2.31%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,578.00p 1.98%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,610.20p 1.76%
BAE Systems (BA.) 589.20p 1.69%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,763.60p 1.67%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 869.60p 1.61%
Schroders (SDR) 3,776.00p 1.53%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,344.00p 1.52%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 477.99p 1.48%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Old Mutual (OML) 236.50p -1.58%
Diageo (DGE) 2,521.50p -1.47%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,879.50p -1.20%
BT Group (BT.A) 259.90p -1.14%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 739.64p -1.12%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,212.00p -0.98%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,991.50p -0.92%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,829.00p -0.91%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,493.00p -0.83%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 606.40p -0.75%