FTSE 100 movers: Ocado gives back some gains; GSK rallies
London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.7% at 7,450.68 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Online supermarket Ocado slid, having rocketed on Thursday amid speculation it could be takeover target for Amazon.
Housebuilders Persimmon, Berkeley, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt all fell amid concerns about the impact of surging borrowing costs.
GSK rallied after the pharmaceuticals group said that a Zantac trial that was due to begin next month in California was dismissed after a confidential settlement was agreed.
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said: "News pharmaceutical giant GSK has settled a case in California alleging its Zantac heartburn medication caused cancer, while crucially admitting no liability, is not a full stop on the saga but is the latest punctuation point in what shareholders will hope is its final stanza.
"Once the world’s best-selling drug, there have been a series of lawsuits brought in the US implying a link between Zantac and cancer but, so far, GSK has been able to navigate its way through these choppy waters. A court ruling in Florida before Christmas, which provided a comprehensive dismissal of the plaintiffs’ arguments, proved a bit of a lode star for the company.
"As it begins to put this issue behind it, focus will turn to its efforts to catch up with its close UK peer AstraZeneca which has drastically outperformed it in share price terms in recent years."
FTSE 100 - Risers
GSK (GSK) 1,420.20p 4.50%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 211.80p 2.42%
Croda International (CRDA) 5,566.00p 2.09%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,620.00p 1.18%
Pearson (PSON) 820.40p 1.16%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,955.50p 0.98%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 72.57p 0.93%
Halma (HLMA) 2,252.00p 0.72%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,707.00p 0.71%
National Grid (NG.) 1,042.50p 0.63%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 526.00p -7.36%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 141.95p -5.21%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 159.65p -3.74%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 270.10p -3.67%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,063.00p -3.67%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,264.00p -2.87%
Glencore (GLEN) 433.55p -2.79%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,765.00p -2.76%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 100.00p -2.63%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 407.40p -2.61%