FTSE 100 movers: Miners advance, but M&S still under the cosh

London’s FTSE 100 was flat at 6,261.41 in afternoon trading.

With gold, copper and iron prices all advancing, and the dollar easing back, heavily-weighted mining stocks were the standout gainers. Glencore, BHP Billiton, Antofagasta and Anglo American were all firmly in the black.

On the downside, DCC, Carnival and Whitbread were the worst performers on the index as their shares went ex-dividend.

Marks & Spencer was in the red again after suffering heavy losses in the previous session. Shares in the retailer tumbled on Wednesday as it posted an 18.5% drop in full-year profit and warned that the current year’s profits will hit by plans to turn around the clothing business.

A downgrade of the stock to ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’ by Exane BNP Paribas on Thursday also weighed.

The French bank said: “In light of near-term forecast momentum, medium-term visibility and longer-term forecast concerns, valuation support looks limited.

“New management is (rightly) taking time over them, but with no easy answers in sight, we move to an underperform stance.”

United Utilities was also under pressure after reporting a large drop in full-year underlying profits following the introduction of new regulated price controls and because of the expected increase in depreciation and other costs.

For the twelve months ending on 31 March the water company reported a 9% fall in underlying profits to £604m.

Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 138.15p 3.56%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 865.10p 3.33%
Anglo American (AAL) 637.90p 2.85%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 454.80p 2.78%
Intu Properties (INTU) 305.30p 2.42%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 267.40p 1.71%
Experian (EXPN) 1,292.00p 1.65%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 868.00p 1.46%
3i Group (III) 539.00p 1.22%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,365.00p 1.20%

Fallers

DCC (DCC) 6,330.00p -2.76%
Carnival (CCL) 3,396.00p -2.67%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,250.00p -2.43%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 391.80p -1.90%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 947.50p -1.81%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,528.00p -1.80%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 251.60p -1.72%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,923.00p -1.64%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 542.00p -1.63%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 546.60p -1.44%