FTSE 100 movers: Commodities climbers counterbalance weakness elsewhere

The FTSE 100 was skirting either side of the horizontal on Monday, as resurgent commodities stocks counterbalanced a broad decline elsewhere.

Higher commodity prices were behind the rise of blue chip resources heavyweights Glencore, Randgold Resources, Anglo American, Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Polymetal International on Monday.

Copper futures firmed, along with nickel and zinc boosted as the US dollar spot index slipped 0.22%, although coal and steel rebar futures slipped.

Oil prices also sprang higher on talks of a potential production cut from the Opec countries, bolstered by talk from Vladimir Putin over the weekend that freezing production would not be an issue.

This saw BP and Shell help join their mining cousins among the highest risers.

Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “OPEC speculation continues to drive the oil price in the countdown to the November 30 meeting. Iran, Iraq and Russia have made positive utterances about a deal being done in recent days- but they are contributing the least to making it happen. Whether the deal goes ahead rests with Saudi Arabia deciding its own lost market share is a price worth paying for a policy that should- but may not - stabilise the price of oil.”

Whitbread was off the boil on news that its Costa Coffee arm will face even hotter competition on the high street.

EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has launched easyCoffee to sell £1 coffee in three UK locations and, and according to the Telegraph, has received over 200 approaches from potential franchise partners.

Direct Line skidded lower, with a note from Barclays on the motor insurance sector highlighing that the company faces headwinds from the loss of the Nationwide and Sainsbury’s contracts "and faces more pressure in home insurance versus peers".

It was a note from Jefferies that did for Royal Mail on Monday, trimming estimates on the back of last week's weaker than expected interim results. "We have cut our EPS estimates and price target by 5% and remain relatively cautious ahead of the upcoming pension reforms, with further details expected after Christmas, and in view of likely increasing competition in parcels from DHL."

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 269.75p 3.00%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,950.00p 2.76%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,117.00p 2.52%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,319.00p 2.33%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 680.50p 2.18%
Polymetal International (POLY) 778.50p 2.10%
Pearson (PSON) 780.50p 1.89%
BP (BP.) 455.55p 1.76%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 635.20p 1.60%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,102.50p 1.59%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Whitbread (WTB) 3,528.00p -2.11%
Next (NXT) 4,986.00p -2.04%
St James's Place (STJ) 933.00p -2.00%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 348.30p -1.97%
Royal Mail (RMG) 461.60p -1.93%
Provident Financial (PFG) 2,890.00p -1.90%
Sky (SKY) 753.00p -1.83%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,615.00p -1.82%
Centrica (CNA) 196.40p -1.60%
British Land Company (BLND) 594.00p -1.57%