FTSE 100 movers: ARM falls over Apple Christmas sales speculation

With the US Federal Reserve's hike honeymoon period coming to an end and new easing measures announced in Japan, London markets were similarly affected with the FTSE 100 down 36.19 points (0.59%) to 6,066.35.

ARM Holdings was the biggest faller after a perception amongst traders that Apple's Christmas sales are not going as well as the company had hoped. It’s the same reason why some of ARM’s competitors have been hit over the last few weeks, and the FTSE 100 company could be playing catch up.

“A recent announcement from one of Apple’s suppliers in the US has raised concerns that the latest quarter could well be hit by declining phone sales for Apple as we head towards Christmas,” said CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson.

It’s likely that a number of the other big fallers of the day were hit by a bit of pre-Christmas profit taking, including Barratt Developments and BT Group which had no material news in the week to cause a dip in the share price.

On the other side of the ledger miners were the big risers, led by Anglo American rebounding from recent all-time lows. Metal prices were all up halfway through the London Metal Exchange session, with a 2.2% rise in the price of copper and a 3% rise in the price of lead. However with commodities likely to still be under pressure prices could easily change.

RSA Insurance Group continued to rise on news from Thursday it had struck a exclusive five-year partnership deal with Nationwide to underwrite all of its home insurance products.

The insurer said the deal will cement its position as the market leader in home insurance and specifically in partnering with members of building society, banking and retail sectors. Stephen Lewis, chief executive of UK and Western Europe at RSA, said: “This deal reaffirms our status as both a market leader and a preferred partner of some of the best known brands in the UK.

And despite sinking oil prices, Royal Dutch Shell shares looked like they would end the week in the green. Earlier in the day, Brent crude was down 0.54% to $36.86 - the lowest level since December 2008 - and WTI Crude dropped below $35 a barrel again, down 1.32% to $34.49.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 279.35p 5.39%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 431.80p 1.70%
Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 297.75p 1.61%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,483.00p 1.37%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,471.00p 1.28%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 712.30p 1.27%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 1,888.50p 1.26%
Old Mutual (OML) 173.50p 1.16%
Barclays (BARC) 221.20p 1.07%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 420.50p 0.96%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,014.00p -2.50%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 602.00p -2.03%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,107.00p -1.95%
BT Group (BT.A) 461.65p -1.85%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 450.10p -1.77%
Sky (SKY) 1,083.00p -1.72%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,346.00p -1.70%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,685.00p -1.69%
Next (NXT) 7,280.00p -1.69%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 1,112.00p -1.59%