FTSE 100 movers: GVC battered as bosses offload shares; Fresnillo shines

London's FTSE 100 was down 0.5% at 7,119.14 in afternoon trade on Friday, as weak Chinese trade figures and a big miss from the non-farm payrolls report dented sentiment.

Shares in sports betting and gaming group GVC Holdings tanked as the company’s top brass significantly reduced their stakes, just days after the firm reported an "excellent start" to the year.

Chief executive Kenneth Alexander sold off 2.06 million ordinary shares at an average price of 665.97p each, for a total value of £1.37bn, while chairman Lee Feldman offloaded 900,000 shares for a total of £599.3m.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "There is a widely used phrase in investing that says ‘follow the money’. In GVC’s case, shareholders are following this advice to the letter as the gambling company’s share price dives amid news of hefty share sales by directors.

"Investors are clearly spooked by this news and are also selling down."

Miners Antofagasta, Anglo American and Glencore were under the cosh following weak Chinese trade figures.

Data released overnight showed that dollar-denominated exports in China tumbled 20.7% in February from a year ago as the trade war with the US took its toll. This missed expectations for a 4.8% drop and was much worse than January's 9.1% increase.

Dollar-denominated imports were down 5.2% from a year ago, versus expectations for a 1.4% decline and a 1.5% year-on-year fall in January.

On the upside, precious metals miner Fresnillo shone as gold prices rallied, hitting a daily high after the release of much weaker-than-expected US non-farm payrolls.

Insurer Admiral was also trading up, having lost ground a day earlier on the back of its 2018 results, which were flattered by the government's decision to unwind partially the change in the Ofgden discount rate.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 805.40p 3.07%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,129.00p 1.96%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,171.00p 1.21%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 137.12p 1.11%
National Grid (NG.) 875.80p 1.00%
SEGRO (SGRO) 660.20p 0.79%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,184.00p 0.59%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 353.40p 0.54%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,869.00p 0.52%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 352.30p 0.51%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

GVC Holdings (GVC) 600.00p -12.28%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 917.20p -4.62%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,901.50p -3.82%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,558.00p -3.69%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 337.20p -3.49%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 538.00p -2.92%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,982.40p -2.49%
Barclays (BARC) 158.40p -2.39%
Glencore (GLEN) 295.75p -2.38%
Prudential (PRU) 1,524.00p -2.28%