FTSE 100 movers: Royal Mail drops following Ofcom report, Friends Life boosted by Aviva acquisition

Royal Mail saw its shares plummet on Tuesday after UK communications watchdog Ofcom unveiled plans to impose new regulations on the former state-owned postal operator and said the postal group's productivity had stalled and parcel volumes were lower. Ofcom went on to publish new measures to underpin Britain's universal postal service, under which Royal Mail must deliver letters and parcels six days a week to every UK address at a uniform price.

Also falling was AstraZeneca, in the wake of their new Alzheimer drug trials being labelled as “behind” competitor Merck & Co, according to analysts. Completion of the trial for the new experimental drug, which works by blocking a specific enzyme, is not expected until May 2019. Meanwhile, Merck & Co’s similar method is already in phase three trials.

Shares in Tullow Oil rose following the recent drop in oil prices, which prompted those looking for a bargain to take advantage of the lower price tags. Stimulus speculation was also benefiting share prices in the mining sector, driving up shares in BHP Billiton.

The share prices of BP and Royal Dutch Shell surged on Tuesday afternoon on the back of market chatter that the two oil majors could be looking to merge. BP, the smaller of the two with a market capitalisation of £79bn, was up 4.6%, while Shell, which is valued at around £211bn, jumped 3.8%.

Friends Life also saw its share price jump, after the company was acquired by Aviva in an all-share deal to create Britain’s largest life insurer. Aviva said the deal would result in about £225m of annual savings by the end of 2017, which it has valued at about £1.8bn.

Risers
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 243.90p +5.22%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 418.60p +4.52%
Experian (EXPN) 1,045.00p +3.98%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 183.20p +3.68%
Friends Life Group Limited (FLG) 377.50p +3.09%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 941.30p +2.66%
BP (BP.) 424.95p +2.52%
BG Group (BG.) 927.00p +2.48%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,520.50p +2.46%
Carnival (CCL) 2,756.00p +2.38%

Fallers
Royal Mail (RMG) 406.10p -2.87%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 903.00p -1.37%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,525.00p -0.97%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,619.00p -0.86%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,674.50p -0.75%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 901.50p -0.72%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,334.00p -0.36%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,196.00p -0.28%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 670.00p -0.15%
Pearson (PSON) 1,226.00p -0.08%