FTSE 100 movers: Ocado rallies again, Schroders and Pru go ex-div
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.7% to 7,242.23 in afternoon trade on Thursday as sterling slumped amid deadlock in the Brexit process.
Ocado racked up strong gains again after announcing earlier in the week that it had struck a deal to team up with Australian supermarket Coles. Traders pointed to high hopes that if the Coles partnership is a success, then more contracts will follow quickly for Ocado.
NMC Health was a high riser a day after suffering heavy losses. Barclays said the price action on Wednesday left investors scratching their heads.
"Many investors we speak to consider the stock to be very attractive at these levels," it said. "With the short base at circa 13%, up circa 30% month-on-month, and the stock de-rating to the lowest valuation in over three years, we see fear around the investment case and the disconnect between fundamentals and valuation to be at their highest in some time."
The bank said recent results were encouraging, accounting concerns are misplaced and the stock is currently an attractive buying opportunity.
Chemicals company Johnson Matthey was trading higher after saying it has secured the site for a factory and a 10-year supply of lithium to enable the chemicals group to meet customers' future commercial requirements for its new eLNO electric battery cathode materials.
Imperial brands and British American Tobacco were boosted by upgrades at Citi, which argued that share prices across the tobacco sector are set to improve as the regulatory environment eases.
"We are upgrading both Imperial Brands and BAT to 'buy' from 'neutral' because they are still pricing in a discontinuity in earnings and cash flows, and we think that in 2019 the environment is likely to become less threatening, not more," it said.
On the downside, Schroders, Prudential and British Land were all in the red as their stock went ex-dividend.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,365.00p 5.73%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,282.00p 4.11%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,198.00p 2.76%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,630.50p 2.75%
DCC (DCC) 6,695.00p 2.53%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,521.00p 2.48%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,409.00p 2.25%
Sage Group (SGE) 697.41p 2.23%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,155.00p 2.10%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,934.00p 1.98%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
easyJet (EZJ) 1,117.00p -3.46%
National Grid (NG.) 854.60p -3.35%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 595.40p -2.52%
Schroders (SDR) 2,653.00p -2.21%
Prudential (PRU) 1,527.00p -2.15%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 233.20p -2.06%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,076.00p -1.80%
British Land Company (BLND) 584.60p -1.78%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 826.20p -1.76%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 5,940.00p -1.74%