FTSE 100 movers: Defensives gain, miners sold off as risk appetite wanes

Defensive sectors such as real estate and pharmaceuticals were performing well while commodity stocks were falling on Tuesday, with investors reducing their appetite for risk as European leaders met in Brussels to discuss Greece's future.

Stocks which tend to hold up better in times of economic instability were benefiting from their safe haven characteristics, such as property giants Land Securities, British Land and Hammerson, along with pharma heavyweights Astrazeneca and Hikma.

Land Securities was also boosted by a UBS upgrade from 'neutral' to 'buy'.

On the other hand, mining stocks dominated the fallers on the FTSE 100 with Anglo American, Glencore, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Randgold Resources among the top 10 fallers on the index on the back of selloff in metal prices.

Oil producers such as BP and Shell were also trading lower as crude prices extended one of the steepest sell-offs this year. West Texas Intermediate and Brent were both falling again on Tuesday after giving up 8% and 6% on Monday respectively.

However, it was Rolls-Royce which was leading the decline on the blue chip index as shares continued to fall after the engine maker disappointed the market on Monday with its third profit warning in 18 months. Espirito Santo and JPMorgan both downgraded their recommendations on the stock on Tuesday.

Chipmaker ARM Holdings was in demand, albeit well below its highs of the day, after Morgan Stanley upgraded it to an ‘overweight’ rating.

Marks & Spencer erased earlier gains despite first-quarter sales coming in better than City analysts had feared, with clothing like-for-like sales down just 0.4% compared with the -1% forecast.

Also among the fallers was Weir Group after announcing the acquisition of US-based Delta Industrial Valves for an enterprise value of up to $47m, and Smiths Group as it underwhelmed investors with the appointment of a new CEO.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,256.00p +2.11%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,599.00p +1.46%
British Land Company (BLND) 810.50p +1.44%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 489.60p +1.12%
Hammerson (HMSO) 631.00p +1.12%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,193.50p +1.07%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,973.00p +0.77%
National Grid (NG.) 828.00p +0.49%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,106.00p +0.42%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,040.00p +0.39%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 753.00p -6.17%
Anglo American (AAL) 841.30p -4.74%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,587.00p -4.74%
Fresnillo (FRES) 654.50p -4.73%
Glencore (GLEN) 236.90p -4.32%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,092.00p -4.29%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 646.50p -3.36%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,183.00p -3.31%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,494.50p -3.24%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,139.00p -3.23%