FTSE 100 movers: Admiral boosted by upgrade; supermarkets retreat

London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,424.73 in afternoon trade on Monday, with little in the way of corporate news flow.

Admiral Group was the top riser on the index as Barclays double-upgraded the stock to 'overweight' from 'underweight'.

"Our analysis suggests insurance prices have reached an inflection point in 2Q 2019, with April-May prices up 4% - a trend that we believe will only be recorded by the wider market when the mainstream quarterly indices are published in the second half of July," it said. "We see this turn as a positive for Hastings and Admiral, given their share prices have historically been highly correlated to movements in premiums."

On the downside, Sainsbury and Tesco retreated. Accendo Markets analyst Mike van Dulken said the supermarket chains could be sensitive to Carrefour's sale of an 80% stake in its Chinese business. He also pointed to news that Germany's Metro AG has rejected a €5.8bn takeover approach from a Czech billionaire.

BT was under the cosh after Deutsche Bank cut its rating to 'sell' from 'hold' and the target price to 175p from 217p as it argued that rising capex threatens an earnings recovery.

Carnival shares were also lower after Barclays downgraded its rating on shares of the cruise operator to 'equalweight' from 'overweight'.

"With significantly lower yield growth expectations for 2019 (and potentially 2020) versus that of Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line, we believe CCL will continue to underperform," it said.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Admiral Group (ADM) 2,182.00p 3.31%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,056.50p 2.72%
Halma (HLMA) 2,059.00p 2.54%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,345.00p 2.19%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,888.00p 2.05%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,818.00p 1.96%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 401.30p 1.80%
Relx plc (REL) 1,954.00p 1.66%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 328.30p 1.48%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,644.00p 1.44%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 187.90p -4.06%
Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) 5,658.00p -3.51%
Kingfisher (KGF) 202.30p -2.65%
BT Group (BT.A) 196.20p -2.56%
Carnival (CCL) 3,402.00p -2.38%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 205.10p -2.24%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 345.90p -2.12%
Tesco (TSCO) 232.00p -1.99%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,296.00p -1.46%
CRH (CRH) 2,517.00p -1.45%