FTSE 100 movers: DCC rallies but BP gushes lower on earnings

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.7% to 7,220.71 in afternoon trade as the pound slumped against the dollar.

DCC racked up healthy gains after it said third-quarter profit was “strongly” ahead of the previous year and in line with expectations as the business support services firm agreed to buy Esso’s retail petrol station network in Norway as part of its plan to extend its presence in Europe.

Education publisher Pearson got a boost as Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the equalweight-rated stock to 615p from 550p.

“Pearson has structural flaws, but there is a route for the shares to bounce from these levels,” the bank said.

Aerospace and defence group Rolls-Royce was in the black as Citigroup said results next week should mark the inflection from fire-fighting to looking to the future.

“Until recently, we believe Rolls-Royce could not credibly talk about the long term outlook as it appeared to be struggling to manage the near term challenges. Having announced last month agreement with the SFO and that ‘early indications are that the Group has had a good finish to the year with profit and, in particular, cash expected to be ahead of expectations’, we believe that Rolls-Royce can start moving the dialogue to the longer term outlook with more credibility."

Housebuilders Persimmon and Barratt Developments advanced after the issue of the government's much-anticipated strategy for the country's 'broken' housing market. The white paper included plans for more affordable homes, including councils having to plan for their own needs.

It would also give local authorities the ability pressure property developers to start building on land that they owned.

Well-received earnings from FTSE 250 peer Bellway also helped to boost the sector.

On the downside, oil giant BP gushed lower after its fourth-quarter profits fell short of target and the company said cash flow will not increase in 2017 as it hikes its level of disposals and capital expenditure to return the business to growth in the medium term. A fourth-quarter underlying replacement cost profit of $400m resulted in a full year profit of $2.6bn, a 56% drop from the previous year.

CRH was on the back foot as US peer Vulcan Materials missed fourth-quarter estimates, citing a fall in aggregates volumes of 3.5% in the quarter and a number of lingering issues such as volume weakness in coastal Texas, California and Illinois.

London Stock Exchange was also weaker as Deutsche Börse dismissed claims of insider trading hanging over its chief executive.

LSE and Deutsche Börse submitted their revised merger plans to European competition regulators on Tuesday. Following talks with the European Commission, London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse directors hope to gain regulatory clearance for their proposed £21bn merger when officials report back on 3 April with the final results of a competition investigation.

Risers

DCC (DCC) 6,735.00p 5.65%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,536.00p 3.23%
Pearson (PSON) 662.50p 2.87%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 314.00p 2.85%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 698.50p 2.65%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,989.00p 2.63%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,556.50p 2.43%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,315.00p 2.38%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,178.00p 2.25%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 504.50p 2.23%

Fallers

BP (BP.) 464.95p -2.43%
CRH (CRH) 2,780.00p -1.21%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 796.10p -0.93%
easyJet (EZJ) 925.50p -0.75%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,636.00p -0.30%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,160.00p 0.03%
Kingfisher (KGF) 335.10p 0.06%
Barclays (BARC) 227.55p 0.07%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,283.00p 0.09%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,182.00p 0.09%