FTSE 100 movers: Anglo American leads miners higher, Burberry hit by weak Asian sales

London markets were subdued on Wednesday, as strong performances from telecommunications, insurance and property stocks were offset by weakness in the oil, engineering and software sectors.

As of 14:30 BST, the FTSE 100 was trading flat at 6,762.

On the corporate front, Anglo American topped the FTSE 100 after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’. The Swiss broker became the latest over the last few days to weigh with a positive view on companies in the sector.

Fellow miners BHP Billiton, Fresnillo and Rio Tinto followed suite, despite the majority of metals extending losses.

Centrica was also making gains, despite announcing that British Gas will reduce household gas prices by 5%, cutting annual energy bills by £35 on average. This is the second gas price reduction in six months and will bring the average total saving to £72 for British Gas customers.

Severn Trent was buoyed by a strong trading update, alongside sector peer United Utilities.

Burberry slumped after it said a decline in Asia Pacific and further deceleration in Hong Kong hurt sales in the three months to 30 June.

Vodafone was also in the red after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ and cut the price target to 250p from 275p. It noted that since adding the stock to its buy list in December 2014, it’s up 5.8% versus the FTSE World Europe up 2.1%.

Risers
Travis Perkins (TPK) 2,204.00p +1.85%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 356.60p +1.80%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 424.90p +1.70%
Hammerson (HMSO) 664.50p +1.30%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 945.50p +1.29%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,502.00p +1.28%
St James's Place (STJ) 979.00p +1.19%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,174.00p +1.16%
BT Group (BT.A) 468.40p +1.14%
Wolseley (WOS) 4,307.00p +1.10%

Fallers
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,586.00p -2.10%
GKN (GKN) 312.00p -2.04%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,955.00p -1.34%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,113.00p -1.20%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,649.00p -0.96%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 730.50p -0.81%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 439.90p -0.74%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,847.00p -0.70%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,062.00p -0.65%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 266.00p -0.64%