FTSE 100 movers: Housebuilders rally; Travis Perkins drops on warning

London’s FTSE 100 was flat at 7,001.06 in afternoon trade.

Housebuilders were the best performers following an upbeat note on the sector by Barclays, which upped its price targets across the board.

The bank pointed out that aside from a brief spike in cancellations in the aftermath of the EU referendum vote - largely confined to London and its commuter towns - housebuilders continue to trade well.

“With mortgage rates at record lows, government commitment strong (Help to Buy Equity Loans remain in place until 2021) and an embarrassment of riches on offer in the land buying market, fundamentals remain intact.”

Persmimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments were all in the black.

Barratt also put out some news on Wednesday, saying it has suspended its regional managing director for London, Alastair Baird, after he was arrested over possible misconduct in awarding certain contracts.

Luxury retailer Burberry was also on the front foot, rebounding from losses on Tuesday following the release of its second-quarter results.

Barclays traded higher after Investec upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and lifted the price target to 200p from 195p.

The brokerage said that it acknowledges the rationale for an element of near-term caution in the context of the likely impact of a fresh PPI charge and pension headwind in the third quarter.

However, given the likelihood of a substantial third quarter consensus beat on 27 October and a now material £/$ tailwind for earnings/tangible net asset value, the stocks is a little too cheap, it said.

On the downside, builders’ merchant Travis Perkins was under the cosh after it warned it would miss its 2016 profit forecasts and announced the closure of 30 branches.

Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser retreated as its third-quarter sales fell short of expectations and it downgraded its outlook for the year.

BT Group was weaker after Deutsche Bank cut its price target on the stock to 345p from 370p.

“BT shares have under-performed year-to-date and are arguably no-longer expensive vs peers however we view the risk of deteriorating operational news flow as high, especially in H2 as Virgin Media's network expansion programme gains momentum, Sky enters the mobile arena, and Vodafone makes deeper in-roads into consumer fixed.”

Risers

Persimmon (PSN) 1,772.00p 2.96%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,444.00p 2.92%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 150.80p 2.79%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,150.00p 2.73%
Tesco (TSCO) 213.50p 2.50%
Capita (CPI) 615.50p 2.07%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 3,289.00p 1.80%
Barclays (BARC) 176.95p 1.70%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 491.90p 1.67%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,045.00p 1.51%

Fallers

Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,388.00p -6.72%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,139.00p -2.57%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 223.00p -1.39%
Provident Financial (PFG) 2,980.00p -1.26%
BT Group (BT.A) 380.00p -1.21%
Aviva (AV.) 434.80p -1.20%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,949.50p -1.05%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 355.20p -1.03%
Wolseley (WOS) 4,477.00p -1.00%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,049.00p -0.94%