FTSE 100 movers: Housebuilders up on Bellway update; Micro focus hit by downgrade
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,513.37 in afternoon trade as investors digested the latest data on UK employment and looked ahead to an expected rate rise from the Federal Reserve.
Housebuilders Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon were boosted by an encouraging update from FTSE 250 peer Bellway, which said housing completions for the year to the end of July are expected to have grown 10% from last year's 8,721, marking another year of significant volume growth and ahead of its original target.
Back in its interim results in March, the company had said the number of homes sold for the full financial year was expected to rise by "at least 5%".
London Stock Exchange Group gained as Barclays upped its price target on the stock to 4,060p from 3,700p following the company's capital markets day earlier this week. It called the event was "successful" and said the group emphasised increasing operating leverage. In addition, Barclays, which reiterated its 'overweight' rating, said management's detail on the FTSE Russell and LCH divisions was "highly reassuring".
Going the other way, Micro Focus was under the cosh after Citigroup downgraded the stock to 'neutral' noting the shares have outperformed the FTSE 100 by around 14 percentage points since the HPE deal announcement.
"While we see longer-term upside from disciplined operational execution, the risk-reward on one-year view appears more balanced due to a) outperformance which suggests that anticipated merger synergies have been partially priced in, b) near-term volatility in HPE Software revenues, and c) headwinds from tax."
Risers
Centrica (CNA) 203.50p 3.30%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,685.00p 2.68%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 590.50p 2.61%
Old Mutual (OML) 203.70p 2.26%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 361.80p 2.23%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 182.00p 2.02%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 369.50p 1.73%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,364.00p 1.72%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,642.00p 1.68%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,429.00p 1.59%
Fallers
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,579.00p -1.31%
GKN (GKN) 350.80p -1.21%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,384.00p -1.04%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 981.50p -0.56%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,470.00p -0.36%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 810.00p -0.31%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 68.40p -0.28%
Sky (SKY) 973.00p -0.26%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,394.00p -0.21%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,864.00p -0.19%