FTSE 100 movers: Antofagasta shines but Vodafone slumps on downgrade

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.4% to 7,175.04 in afternon trade, with miners in focus after a slew of production reports.

Chilean copper giant Antofagasta rallied after reporting a strong fourth quarter performance, with copper production of 205,500 tonnes, up 13.8% versus the previous quarter, lifting production for the full year to just under 710,000 tonnes, 12.5% higher than the prior year.

On the downside, mining giant BHP Billiton retreated after it posted its operational review for the half year to 31 December. The company achieved record production at Western Australia Iron Ore, and total iron ore production of 118 Mt – a 4% rise year-on-year – but warned that it is likely to produce less copper than previously expected this fiscal year.

Fresnillo was also weaker despite achieving record production of gold and silver in 2016, even though the miner experienced some delays in implementing its turnaround plan.

Vodafone was under pressure after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock to 'neutral' from 'buy' as the telecoms giant's multiple headwinds in recent months are "unlikely to abate in the near-term", with the 2 February trading update predicted to be cautious.

Merrill felt a recovery in revenues, for so long the bull case at Vodafone, "may fade away" as soon as the year end and "looks unlikely to recover" until late in the March 2018 fiscal year.

B&Q owner Kingfisher was under the cosh as Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the stock to ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’.

“The ‘One Kingfisher’ cost saving programme is admirable, but it could accentuate rather than alleviate the core issue.

“With macro headwinds approaching and executional challenges rising over a strategy that risks disappointing, we move Kingfisher to underperform.”

FTSE 100 - Risers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 856.00p 3.88%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,016.00p 3.57%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 227.10p 3.23%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,090.00p 2.83%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 783.00p 2.62%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 343.00p 2.57%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,604.00p 2.56%
CRH (CRH) 2,922.00p 2.31%
GKN (GKN) 352.30p 2.00%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 65.37p 1.82%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,432.00p -3.37%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 193.65p -2.86%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,675.00p -2.63%
Kingfisher (KGF) 330.40p -2.48%
ITV (ITV) 205.90p -1.62%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,882.00p -1.52%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 473.30p -1.29%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,462.50p -1.22%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,573.00p -1.16%
Tesco (TSCO) 190.00p -1.12%