FTSE 100 movers: Burberry trips lower, ARM flexes

The FTSE 100 slowly recovered Wednesday’s losses, up 55.73 (0.89%) to 6,325.34 by mid-afternoon Thursday.

Burberry took the biggest hit of the day after it announced sales slowed in the second quarter as the luxury market became "increasingly challenging". While retail sales were up 3% to £774m at the reported level in the six months to 30 September, total sales were almost flat at £1.1bn while wholesale was down 3% and licensing down 18% at the underlying level.

Smiths Group also was knocked on the market after Exane BNP Paribas downgraded it to ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’ and cut the price target to 830p from 1,000p. It highlighted that organic sales growth has lagged the sector for years, and that the situation regarding legacy liabilities has improved but isn’t fully resolved.

However it wasn’t all bad news, with a government announcement over pensions policy boosting Hargreaves Lansdown. The savings and investment group was a shareholder favourite as Baroness Altmann confirmed the government's priorities for pension policy included the continued roll-out of auto-enrolment and the continued implementation of pension freedom, both of which Hargreaves is benefiting from, as results earlier in the week had shown.

ARM Holdings led the risers after the wider semiconductor sector was lifted on merger talks. Closer to home, Numis Securities reiterated its buy rating with a price target of 1,350p. However, late on Thursday, Liberum slapped a 'sell' recommendation on the stock, saying it was "highly unlikely to be acquired".

Household goods giant Unilever also had a stand out performance after it posted a jump in revenue in the third quarter. The company said it now expects underlying sales growth for the year to be towards the top end of its target range.

FTSE 100 - Risers

ARM Holdings (ARM) 979.50p 4.98%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,394.00p 4.81%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,467.00p 3.87%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,885.00p 3.41%
St James's Place (STJ) 863.00p 2.86%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,307.00p -7.89%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 651.00p -3.56%
Glencore (GLEN) 117.70p -1.92%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 961.50p -1.79%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,045.00p -1.26%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Renishaw (RSW) 2,028.00p 7.30%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,610.00p 4.48%
Man Group (EMG) 157.80p 4.37%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 354.60p 4.29%
Henderson Group (HGG) 266.70p 3.57%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Serco Group (SRP) 100.10p -4.58%
Card Factory (CARD) 355.00p -4.39%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 94.25p -3.88%
Spectris (SXS) 1,710.00p -2.34%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 574.50p -2.13%