FTSE 100 movers: Rolls-Royce gains on settlement; Intertek slumps on downgrade
London’s FTSE 100 was down 1% to 7,257.84 in afternoon trade as investors digested Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech outlining the plan for Brexit.
Aerospace and defence group Rolls-Royce was the standout gainer after agreeing to pay £671m to settle bribery and corruption cases with UK and US authorities.
Hargreaves Lansdown rallied after JP Morgan Chase upgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘underweight’ on valuation grounds. The bank also said it sees potential catalysts that may support the stock, including the roll-out of new initiatives such as the cash offering, which over the medium term its reckons could add up to 11% to earnings in its mid-case scenario.
Standard Chartered got a boost as Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ and lifted the price target to 900p from 735p, saying the bank was progressing towards reasonable returns.
Merill upped its 2018 pre-tax profit forecast by 18% to reflect higher returns on StanChart’s $140bn excess deposits and equity and a modest uplift for higher fixed income and FX trading.
BofA ML said it sees StanChart rebuilding profitability organically, with costs stable and income recovering to $17bn by 2020
On the downside, inspection, product testing and certification company Intertek was under the cosh as Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’ and cut the price target to 3,200p from 3,400p as it took a more cautious view on the rate of recovery in the resources operations and increased risk to its consumer and product divisions.
Miners were on the back foot as metals prices declined despite a weaker US dollar, with BHP Billiton and Anglo American in the red.
Luxury retailer Burberry slid ahead of its third-quarter trading update on Wednesday.
Risers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 707.00p 6.32%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,335.00p 4.38%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 755.60p 4.32%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 223.90p 4.19%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,060.00p 3.62%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 970.00p 2.97%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 173.30p 2.48%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 520.00p 2.36%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,009.00p 2.08%
Intu Properties (INTU) 284.30p 1.83%
Fallers
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,431.00p -3.70%
Diageo (DGE) 2,139.50p -2.55%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,442.50p -2.37%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 205.65p -2.30%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,324.50p -2.29%
Wolseley (WOS) 4,914.00p -2.21%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,601.00p -2.20%
Carnival (CCL) 4,172.00p -2.11%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,107.00p -2.04%
WPP (WPP) 1,856.00p -1.90%