FTSE 100 movers: Banks and miners drop; Standard Life surges on merger
London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.4% to 7,347.22 in afternoon trade, with weakness in the banking and mining sectors offsetting a boost from M&A news.
Heavily-weighted mining shares were on the back foot after China – a major consumer of metals – said over the weekend that it is now targeting growth of 6.5% this year, down a touch from last years’ growth rate of 6.7% and from the government’s target growth range of 6.5% to 7% in 2016. Anglo American, Fresnillo, Glencore, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were all weaker.
Banks were under pressure, with RBS and Lloyds both lower after Deutsche Bank announced that it is planning an €8bn euro share sale to bolster its capital position.
Advertising giant WPP was weaker as Credit Suisse kept its ‘outperform’ rating on the stock but cut the target price following revised guidance from the company.
On the upside, Standard Life surged after it agreed the terms for an £11bn merger with Aberdeen Asset Management, having revealed talks over the weekend.
The deal will see Aberdeen shareholders own roughly a third of the enlarged company and Standard Life's the rest, though the two companies will initially have an equal number of seats on the board.
Broadcaster ITV was a high riser following a Telegraph report that it has scored a court victory over services that retransmit its broadcasts without permission.
The company took TVCatchup.com to the European Court of Justice to stop it offering ITV’s channels for free streaming online. Channel 4 and Channel 5 also backed the challenge.
Budget airline easyJet flew higher after it reported an 8.2% rise in passenger numbers in February and said the load factor – which gauges how full the planes actually are – rose 1.6 percentage points to 92%.
The shares were also boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ by Kepler Cheuvreux, as it lifted the price target to 1,106p from 1,053p and included it as a most preferred stock in the sector.
Housebuilder Barratt Developments gained ground after saying it has sold a central London residential portfolio of 172 units for £140.5m to Henderson Park and Greystar.
Risers
Standard Life (SL.) 398.20p 5.20%
ITV (ITV) 207.80p 2.31%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 255.50p 1.75%
easyJet (EZJ) 972.50p 1.67%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 552.50p 1.66%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,114.00p 1.63%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 185.90p 1.58%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 335.20p 1.27%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 527.50p 1.05%
Schroders (SDR) 3,100.00p 0.94%
Fallers
Glencore (GLEN) 328.50p -2.88%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,238.50p -2.67%
WPP (WPP) 1,717.00p -2.39%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,382.00p -2.19%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 241.70p -2.15%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,335.50p -1.98%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,278.00p -1.86%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 806.50p -1.65%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 734.00p -1.61%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 67.45p -1.42%