FTSE 100 movers: Miners lower on funding fears, Dixons boosted by Christmas trading optimism

Dixons Carphone topped the risers after analysts expressed optimism about the upcoming Christmas trading results on Wednesday. Estimates sit at a 5% increase in like-for-like sales, as published in Sunday papers including the Sunday Express and the Mail on Sunday.

Travis Perkins was also trading higher following an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co in a research note on Monday. The bank now has a 2,100p target price on the stock, up from their previous target of 1,750p.

Stocks in the heavyweight mining sector were lower, including Rio Tinto, Glencore, BHP Billiton and Anglo American, on the back of fears over a slowdown in China, while Credit Suisse also raised concerns about potential funding issues. The broker said in a report: “The 2015 outlook remains challenging; major commodities are in surplus and we expect the deflationary trends to persist. Dividend yields for the sector are attractive against the market, but the fall in prices is continuing to pressure cash flows, raising concerns over dividend security.”

Concerns about China’s commodities market also hit the companies, due to China’s status as the top metals consumer. Reuters reported: “Chinese funds were aggressively short selling copper, replaying a strategy that they have used to target iron ore and coal. The funds aggressively sold on one mainland domestic exchanges in illiquid hours to trigger forced selling, while taking long positions in a related market.” Copper prices remained down 0.2%.

BP slipped on falling oil prices, with Brent Crude down 0.71p to 49.41p.

Risers
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 445.00p +4.09%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,111.00p +3.16%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,840.00p +3.14%
CRH (CRH) 1,548.00p +2.65%
Kingfisher (KGF) 325.80p +2.45%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,031.00p +2.28%
Barclays (BARC) 228.45p +1.83%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,943.00p +1.76%
GKN (GKN) 361.80p +1.66%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,773.00p +1.57%

Fallers
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,025.00p -1.91%
Glencore (GLEN) 248.15p -1.74%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,838.50p -1.73%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,365.00p -1.66%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,085.00p -1.32%
SSE (SSE) 1,480.00p -1.14%
BP (BP.) 408.85p -1.09%
Intu Properties (INTU) 341.80p -0.93%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,078.00p -0.92%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,727.00p -0.73%