FTSE 100 movers: Paddy Power leads Friday retreat
London's FTSE 100 was in the red on Friday, along with stock benchmarks in Europe and the US.
The Footsie has been starved of heavyweight earnings this week, which analyst Chris Beauchamp at IG said perhaps accounting for its skittishness, along with the steeper falls for eurozone markets.
Falling the furthest was Paddy Power Betfair after the bookmaker's shares were downgraded to 'sell' from 'buy' by Investec ahead of what analysts think will be disappointing interim results from the bookmaker on 8 August, though it still feels the company is well placed in the long run. Furthemore, the target price was cut to £69.70 from £100 due to lower forecasts and a worsening medium-term regulatory outlook in the UK and Australia.
Other fallers came from a variety of sectors, with Easyjet adding to losses earlier in the week as investors turned cold. The budget carrier's shares have given up about 7% over the week, while British Airways owner IAG lost 6% over the last five sessions amid warnings from airlines about falling margins that have rocked sentiment.
Some companies fell as investors seemed to get the willies ahead of results, with GKN and G4S both down. GKN is due to report interim results next week, while G4S's are due early next month.
Miners, having been an early driving force, were in the red later in the session, with BHP Billiton and Glencore leading the retreat as the top was knocked off the prices of several metals. Rio Tinto however was moving firmly in the right direction. Brent Crude oil and WTI drifted lower today as traders await the Baker Hughes active rig count report at 6pm.
Healthcare stocks led the risers, with traders pointing to continued momentum for the defensive sector.
Vodafone was higher after reporting improved revenues in the first few months of its new financial year thanks to strong growth in the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific (AMAP) region. Neil Wilson at ETX Capital was impressed by the numbers, which showed how Vodafone was benefiting from consumers’ insatiable desire for data, with a 39% increase in data usage per smartphone customer in Europe and data traffic growing 63% worldwide which is equivalent to all the quarterly data traffic two years ago.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,449.89 -0.51%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,735.00 -0.15%
techMARK (TASX) 3,527.18 -0.16%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,163.00p 2.02%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 313.90p 1.88%
Next (NXT) 3,822.00p 1.03%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 5,472.00p 0.87%
Prudential (PRU) 1,800.50p 0.73%
3i Group (III) 934.00p 0.70%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 376.30p 0.70%
WPP (WPP) 1,602.00p 0.63%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 226.20p 0.58%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,790.00p 0.50%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 7,440.00p -3.44%
G4S (GFS) 329.80p -3.23%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,569.00p -2.43%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,204.00p -2.13%
GKN (GKN) 325.50p -1.99%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,309.00p -1.87%
DCC (DCC) 6,955.00p -1.77%
Wolseley (WOS) 4,506.00p -1.68%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,317.00p -1.66%
Barclays (BARC) 204.90p -1.59%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Paysafe Group (PAYS) 578.50p 6.73%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 354.90p 5.91%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,124.00p 3.61%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 739.50p 2.85%
IP Group (IPO) 143.90p 2.79%
Synthomer (SYNT) 501.00p 2.66%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,417.00p 2.61%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 779.50p 2.57%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 805.50p 2.42%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 118.30p 2.07%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Acacia Mining (ACA) 232.80p -17.09%
Carillion (CLLN) 59.35p -7.55%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 409.80p -4.48%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 383.20p -3.62%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 301.10p -3.25%
Homeserve (HSV) 710.50p -3.07%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 266.10p -2.99%
Drax Group (DRX) 315.20p -2.75%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 150.40p -2.59%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,088.00p -2.51%