FTSE 100 movers: ITV rallies on Macquarie upgrade; miners drop

London’s FTSE 100 was flat at 7,039.43 in afternoon trade amid holiday-thinned volumes, as activity began to wind down ahead of the Christmas break.

Broadcaster ITV was a high riser as Macquarie upgraded the stock to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’ and lifted the price target to 220p from 170p.

“After years of deflation, the trend in UK retail prices is improving and suggests a return to above-the-line ad spending in the consumer goods sector which represents about 30% of total ad spending.

“We expect ITV net advertising revenues to trough in Q1 with improving trends in the second part of the year.”

TUI AG was also firmer, bouncing back from losses in the previous session when travel stocks took a hit from the terror attack in Berlin.

On the downside, mining stocks lost ground as metals prices retreated, with Rio Tinto, Glencore, BHP Billiton, and Antofagasta all on the back foot.

Barclays and Standard Chartered were also weaker as investors turned their attention to the banking sector amid Italy’s woes, with Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena looking likely to be rescued by the government.

On Wednesday, the Italian lower house and Senate approved a government request to borrow up to €20bn to underwrite the country’s beleaguered banking sector.

Risers

Whitbread (WTB) 3,716.00p 2.79%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,404.00p 2.59%
ITV (ITV) 204.80p 2.40%
DCC (DCC) 6,000.00p 2.39%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,134.00p 1.70%
Experian (EXPN) 1,549.00p 1.57%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 233.10p 1.57%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,177.00p 1.53%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,645.00p 1.53%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,821.00p 1.51%

Fallers

Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,063.50p -1.54%
Glencore (GLEN) 267.70p -1.45%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,273.50p -1.39%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 666.00p -1.26%
Barclays (BARC) 225.90p -1.25%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 678.00p -1.02%
BAE Systems (BA.) 590.00p -1.01%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 661.30p -0.87%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 1,879.00p -0.84%
Diageo (DGE) 2,070.50p -0.74%