FTSE 100 movers: Retailers gain but miners sink
Retail stocks were on the rise on Thursday, after results from both JD Sports Fashion and Next impressed the market, while miners were dragged lower by falling metal prices and Ocado suffered from some profit-taking.
UK sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion saw shares surge 9% after beating forecasts with its first-half results. Organic sales rose 12% year-on-year while pre-tax profit surged 26%, as the sportswear retailer reiterated its annual earnings guidance.
High street peer Next also impressed as it lifted full-year targets for the third time in four months after better-than-expected summer sales. Pre-tax profits are now forecast to come at £875m from previous guidance of £845m.
Sectors peers Marks & Spencer and Kingfisher were also putting in a decent performance.
On the downside, online grocery group Ocado saw shares plummet 18% just days after the company impressed the market with a solid third-quarter trading update. Exane Paribas analysts were providing further downward pressure after cutting the stock from 'neutral' to 'underperform' on Thursday, saying the risk-reward is now more balanced after a doubling in the share price since June.
Meanwhile, a stronger dollar was hitting commodity prices hard, with gold falling 1.4%, silver dropping 0.9% and copper tanking 2.3%. The dollar index yesterday hit its highest level since early-March after Federal Reserve policymakers suggested they would probably hike interest rates again this year.
As a result, mining stocks were out of favour, with Antofagasta, Glencore, Tio Rinto, Anglo American and Fresnillo notching heavy losses.
FTSE 100 - Risers
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 144.65p 8.80%
Next (NXT) 7,334.00p 3.21%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 222.00p 2.68%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 815.00p 2.26%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 235.20p 1.77%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,660.00p 1.77%
Kingfisher (KGF) 219.30p 1.67%
Centrica (CNA) 172.15p 1.53%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,448.00p 1.37%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 471.30p 1.25%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 660.00p -18.36%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 14,120.00p -3.39%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,408.50p -3.20%
Glencore (GLEN) 449.65p -3.07%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,903.00p -3.03%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,136.00p -2.80%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,237.00p -2.57%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 473.70p -2.53%
Fresnillo (FRES) 578.40p -2.36%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 6,168.00p -2.06%