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FTSE 100: This morning’s risers and fallers

Lucinda Beeman
Written By:
Lucinda Beeman
Posted:
Updated:
22/07/2014

Strong gains from ARM Holdings and some mining heavyweights gave UK markets a boost on Tuesday morning, as risk appetite recovered.

While investors continue to watch geopolitical developments closely, stocks were tracking a decent performance on Asian markets overnight.

However, Royal Mail was a standout faller in London today after warning on lower parcel revenue on the back of heightened competition.

The FTSE 100 was trading 0.7% higher at 6,773 in early trading.

Heightened tensions in both Ukraine and Gaza pushed UK stocks into the red in yesterday’s session, with US indices also declining on Wall Street last night.

The continued conflict between Israel and Gaza has led to the killing of dozens of Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, with the death toll said to have now exceeded 500 during the two weeks of clashes.

Meanwhile, in the latest development in the Ukraine-Russian conflict, pro-Moscow rebels have handed over the black boxes from flight MH17 and allowed the train carrying bodies of victims to leave for the Netherlands. That came after Russian President Vladimir Putin bowed to substantial pressure from global leaders and called on the rebels to allow investigators access to the crash site.

“Positivity has filtered into the markets as Russia finally starts to cooperate with authorities to gain access to the MH17 crash site,” said Financial Sales Trader Lee Mumford from Spreadex.

ARM, miners gain; Royal Mail drops

Chip designer ARM Holdings was a high riser as it delivered a confident outlook, hailing a “healthy pipeline of opportunities” after strong licensing results helped profits beat expectations in the second quarter. The tech group, which makes processors for smartphones and tablets, said pre-tax profit in the six months to June 30th rose 9% year-on-year to £94.2m, ahead of the £91m estimated by analysts.

Mining stocks were on the rise this morning on the back of renewed risk appetite, as investors shrugged off declining metal prices. Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were making decent gains.

Even Anglo American was in demand despite saying that the bulk of its iron ore division, which accounts for around half of group profits, saw underlying earnings drop 28% in the first half.

Heading the other way was Royal Mail after tougher competition in the corporate market in the first quarter resulted in a weaker-than-expected performance in UK parcels, meaning full-year revenues are likely to be lower than forecasts.

Supermarket giant Tesco was also in the red, pulling back after decent rise on Monday as investors welcomed the resignation of its Chief Executive Philip Clarke. However, a simultaneous profit warning from the grocer is probably weighing on sentiment this morning with analysts likely to be paring estimates for the company over the coming days.

FTSE 100 – Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 1,592.50p +3.04%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 938.00p +2.29%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 850.00p +1.98%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 361.00p +1.92%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 329.20p +1.89%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 830.50p +1.84%
BG Group (BG.) 1,192.50p +1.79%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,348.00p +1.78%
Carnival (CCL) 2,135.00p +1.76%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,047.50p +1.71%

FTSE 100 – Fallers
Tesco (TSCO) 281.75p -2.39%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,879.00p -1.85%
Royal Mail (RMG) 460.10p -1.27%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 192.90p -0.77%
WPP (WPP) 1,216.00p -0.65%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 172.70p -0.58%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,635.00p -0.45%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 316.90p -0.44%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,382.50p -0.19%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,442.00p -0.14%

Source: ShareCast