FTSE 100 movers: Compass marches north, grocers retreat on consumer crunch

The FTSE 100 index started weakly, built up steam and then lost it again on Thursday, sitting 0.8% lower at 6,113.32 late in session.

Despite gold losing some of its lustre, Randgold Resources topped the pile while precious metals giant Fresnillio was another on the leaderboard.

The commodities sector was not binary however, with high-beta stock Anglo American and copper colossus Antofagasta atop the fallers.

Among the other blue chips under water were those going ex-dividend on the day, namely Centrica, Inmarsat, Morrisons, and Sainsbury's.

The latter pair were joined by Tesco as reports of data from Barclaycard showed consumer spending fell for the second month in a row in April, as slowing wage growth, flat employment rates, and Brexit uncertainty kept growth down at 1.9%.

Supermarkets apparently bore the brunt of reduced consumer spend, with the category’s 6.1% drop the steepest since Barclaycard records began in 2011. Consumers chose to keep going to pubs and restaurants however, where spending rose 8.4% and 11.3% respectively.

ITV was down almost 3% as investors switched off due to news of a 13% decline in net advertising revenue in April and "broadly flat" ads for the first half of the year that was largely attributed to Brexit uncertainty. This led some analysts to lower their full year NAR forecasts.

However the group expects to deliver "good profit growth" for the first half and the first-quarter numbers showed how much less reliant the business is on TV advertising now, with revenue from its programming sales and online ads up 34%.

"We believe concerns around ITV are cyclical and attempts to attach a structural rationale are misplaced," said Credit Suisse, dismissing concerns around Brexit impact. "ITV's attractive content business and potential for future cash returns creates an attractive long-term investment case, in our view."

Among those stocks going the right direction, was Compass, the day after the food service group that put out an encouraging set of interim numbers.

Morgan Stanley had some positive comments on Thursday, saying the in-line results masked an excellent performance in its North American business, which delivered 8.3% organic sales growth and propels the region from 46% to 59% of group EBIT.

"With Sodexo delivering 3.6% and Aramark 1% in North America in H1, Compass is clearly doing something right," analysts said, and nudged up its forecasts accordingly.

BT also put on a late run with news that it will stream live footage of the Champions League and Uefa Europa League finals on YouTube, allowing UK viewers access even if they do not subscribe to its BT Sport service, and launching a new sport offer for its new EE mobile arm.

Amid reported criticism from with Uefa about its low viewing figures ahead of the next broadcast right auction, BT unveiled the YouTube deal and said both it and the European football governing body were "delighted with what we have achieved in our first year as the broadcaster".

FTSE 100 - Risers

Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,245.00p 2.46%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,279.00p 2.24%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 182.20p 1.45%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,262.00p 1.43%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,942.00p 1.27%
SSE (SSE) 1,532.00p 1.19%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 422.90p 1.17%
BT Group (BT.A) 441.90p 1.14%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,063.00p 1.05%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,086.00p 1.02%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Anglo American (AAL) 587.10p -4.89%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 408.50p -4.04%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 254.10p -3.38%
ITV (ITV) 208.90p -2.97%
Centrica (CNA) 203.90p -2.90%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 813.00p -2.83%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,019.00p -2.74%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,872.00p -2.65%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,083.00p -2.55%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 1,984.50p -2.31%