FTSE 100 movers: Fresnillo shines as gold rallies; Hikma slumps on downgrade

London's FTSE 100 was down 0.5% to 7,485.04 in afternoon trade as investors digested the latest round of UK jobs data and political turmoil in the US.

Precious metals miner Fresnillo was the standout gainer as gold prices rallied on safe-haven demand amid worries about US President Donald Trump.

B&Q owner Kingfisher was on the front foot as HSBC upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'hold' and lifted the price target to 440p from 380p. It said the company's transformation plan is radical, ambitious and lower risk than headline performance targets suggest.

Lloyds Banking Group advanced after the government sold off its last few shares in the bank, meaning it has been fully returned to private ownership. In a regulatory news update on Wednesday, Lloyds revealed that the government had sold the last 638,437,059 shares on the previous day.

Energy supplier SSE was also higher after it reported a rise in full-year adjusted profit before tax and lifted its dividend.

Going the other way, Hikma Pharmaceuticals slumped as Jefferies downgraded the stock to 'underperform' from 'buy' and slashed the price target to 1,450p from 2,162p. Jefferies pointed to delays to the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of its generic Advair Diskus asthma treatment. It said that while Hikma hasn’t completely ruled out approval this year, this is unlikely.

British Land fell despite reporting a much stronger net asset value at its year end than the market was expecting and, despite the ongoing uncertainty around the economy, saying it was confident of generating better returns in the year ahead. Investors got the wobbles over its talk of "uncertainty" and the reining back of speculative developments.

Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,604.00p 2.62%
Kingfisher (KGF) 367.20p 2.51%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 71.80p 2.35%
Pearson (PSON) 699.00p 1.67%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,346.00p 1.66%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,626.00p 1.46%
DCC (DCC) 7,340.00p 0.96%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,020.00p 0.89%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,385.00p 0.89%
SSE (SSE) 1,463.00p 0.83%

Fallers

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,694.00p -4.08%
British Land Company (BLND) 651.50p -3.34%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,574.00p -2.96%
Glencore (GLEN) 290.10p -2.21%
CRH (CRH) 2,820.00p -1.88%
Prudential (PRU) 1,737.00p -1.81%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,118.00p -1.76%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,070.50p -1.74%
Intu Properties (INTU) 268.90p -1.68%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 851.00p -1.62%