FTSE 100 movers: Mediclinic rises on rumours, miners lifted
The FTSE 100 was led higher on Wednesday by the City rumour mill, dollar weakness and some encouraging trading updates.
Mediclinic International was top of the pile as rumours re-emerged that the Swiss-South African private healthcare operator was eyeing a full takeover of smaller UK rival Spire. According to Wallstreetwires, rumours were emerging that Mediclinic, which already owns 29.9% of Spire, was now minded to take over the entire company.
Miners were well represented on the leaderboard as a weaker US dollar against most major currencies was continuing to feed a rally in commodity prices. Copper miner Antofagasta was highest placed, followed by Glencore, BHP Billiton and Fresnillo, while a resurgence in oil prices meant that BP and Shell were not far behind.
Bottom of the day's card was Micro Focus as it reported full year results and confirmed its takeover of Hewlett Packard Enterprises's software arm should take place on 1 September. Although the results were solid and had been well flagged, there were several possible reasons for the shares' fall, including that the current business is likely to be “broadly flat" in the first half of the new financial year, while management's bullish comments about further acquisitions may have spooked investors with such a major deal still pending. Analysts at Canaccord attributed the recent share price decline to “investor concerns around the flow-back of stock from US funds holding HPE, but which may be unable to hold Micro Focus”.
Pearson was lower as Credit Suisse reduced its price target to 730p from 785p and maintained its 'neutral' rating, expressing disappointment that the educational publisher's sale of around half of its stake in Penguin Random House for $1bn. "Previously we had assumed a sale of the full 47% stake for proceeds of £1.5bn of which £500m would be used for a share buyback and £1bn for debt reduction," analysts wrote.
Kingfisher was down despite a double upgrade from Morgan Stanley who put out a slightly cryptic note saying it still expects management's One Kingfisher plan to fail. "However, when this becomes clear, probably in 2018, we expect investors to start valuing the company on its assets, not its earnings," analysts said, but upgrading to 'overweight' as the shares "look cheap on that basis".
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,419.80 1.23%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,223.83 0.04%
techMARK (TASX) 3,491.59 0.52%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Mediclinic International (MDC) 738.50p 4.16%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 857.50p 3.56%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,629.00p 3.10%
Glencore (GLEN) 316.10p 2.80%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,274.00p 2.77%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,300.00p 2.73%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,482.00p 2.42%
CRH (CRH) 2,821.00p 2.40%
BP (BP.) 452.90p 2.36%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,250.00p 2.23%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,062.00p -6.19%
Pearson (PSON) 625.00p -4.58%
Kingfisher (KGF) 293.80p -2.72%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 316.80p -1.95%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,395.00p -1.48%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 176.80p -1.06%
BAE Systems (BA.) 620.00p -1.04%
Royal Mail (RMG) 408.20p -0.68%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,336.00p -0.68%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 255.20p -0.51%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Evraz (EVR) 233.10p 4.91%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 584.00p 3.73%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 266.80p 3.69%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 6,400.00p 3.64%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 154.70p 3.41%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 104.20p 3.37%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 340.40p 3.15%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 456.60p 3.05%
Rotork (ROR) 239.90p 2.92%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 1,238.00p 2.82%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Carillion (CLLN) 59.80p -23.23%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 433.20p -4.79%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 427.00p -3.83%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 260.00p -3.63%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 178.60p -3.51%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 329.60p -3.43%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 602.50p -3.29%
FirstGroup (FGP) 115.40p -3.03%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 345.70p -2.84%
Bellway (BWY) 2,961.00p -2.53%