FTSE 100 movers: Anglo sparkles on De Beers sales; Ashtead slumps on downgrade

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to 6,205.41 in afternoon trading as investors digested better-than-expected UK inflation figures.

Anglo American was the standout gainer after its diamond unit De Beers said it generated $660m from provisional rough diamond sales in the third sales cycle of 2016.

Insurer Direct Line was bouncing back from losses incurred in the previous session when Barclays downgraded the stock to ‘equalweight’ from ‘overweight’.

Standard Chartered was higher for the second day in a row after the bank said it was looking to sell $4.4bn in Asian assets.

On the downside, equipment hire company Ashtead put in the worst performance after HSBC downgraded the stock to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ following a reappraisal of the its growth prospects.

Aviva racked up strong gains. Credit Suisse removed the stock from its Europe Focus List on Tuesday but said it expected the share price to close the gap versus its peers over the next few years.

Ashtead’s recent share price weakness has been thought to provide a strong buying opportunity, coupled with a structural growth opportunity in equipment rental helped by Ashtead's younger fleet and superior execution than its rivals.

But while HSBC agreed a younger fleet can be a significant competitive advantage in the industry, its research had found that Ashtead's fleet in fact may "not be materially younger than that of the peers, at least on a basis that matters commercially".

Burberry was under pressure after peer LVMH put out first quarter results that fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Intu Properties was also in the red after Peel Hunt downgraded the stock to ‘reduce’ from ‘hold’, saying it expects it to underperform the sector going forward.

“We do not see scope for yield compression or sufficient ERV growth from here to drive the NAV significantly and would at least prefer Hammerson in order to obtain exposure to prime shopping centres.”

Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 628.70p 7.45%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 473.25p 5.65%
Glencore (GLEN) 147.95p 4.56%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 802.80p 3.16%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,091.50p 3.00%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 364.10p 2.48%
3i Group (III) 459.40p 2.29%
Prudential (PRU) 1,340.00p 2.06%
Aviva (AV.) 440.70p 1.97%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,845.00p 1.94%

Fallers

Ashtead Group (AHT) 805.00p -4.39%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,260.00p -2.85%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,943.00p -2.61%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,740.00p -2.40%
Intu Properties (INTU) 310.80p -2.02%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 285.50p -1.86%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 435.30p -1.83%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 177.20p -1.45%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,771.00p -1.35%
Next (NXT) 5,395.00p -1.28%