FTSE 100 movers: Pearson tumbles on Chegg warning; HSBC rallies

London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 7,836.10 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.

Shares in education publisher Pearson tumbled after US firm Chegg, which provides online guidance for students preparing tests, warned over the impact of AI chatbots on its homework-help services.

Chegg said in its first-quarter earnings on Monday that since March, it had seen "a significant spike" in student interest in ChatGPT.

BP was also in the red despite reporting a better-than-expected first quarter profit of $5bn. The results beat analyst expectations of a $4.3bn quarterly profit. Underlying replacement cost profit, BP’s measure of net income, hit $4.96bn, up from $4.8bn in the final three months of 2022 and beating expectations of $4.3bn in a company-compiled survey of analysts.

On the upside, HSBC was sitting pretty at the top of the index as it reinstated its dividend and announced a new round of share buybacks as it trebled first-quarter profits on the back of rising interest rates.

The bank posted a pre-tax profit of $13bn for the three months to March against $4.2bn a year earlier and the $8.64bn average company-compiled analysts’ estimates.

It was also boosted by a reversal of a $2bn impairment HSBC took against the planned sale of its French business, reflecting the fact that the deal may no longer go through.

Housebuilders Persimmon and Barratt gained after data from Nationwide showed that UK house prices edged higher in April following seven consecutive months of declines.

House prices ticked up 0.5% on the month following a 0.7% drop in March, to an average of £260,441. On the year, meanwhile, house prices fell 2.7% in April following a 3.1% fall the month before.

Ashtead advanced after the equipment rental firm said it had started a share buyback of up to $500m.

FTSE 100 - Risers

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 606.20p +5.65%

Persimmon (PSN) 1,381.50p +5.14%

Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,716.00p +3.04%

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 155.25p +2.04%

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 281.70p +1.92%

Barratt Developments (BDEV) 509.40p +1.88%

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 488.30p +1.79%

Whitbread (WTB) 3,299.00p +1.60%

Frasers Group (FRAS) 780.00p +1.50%

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,542.00p +1.50%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Pearson (PSON) 788.60p -11.09%

BP (BP.) 501.50p -6.16%

Relx plc (REL) 2,568.00p -2.95%

Severn Trent (SVT) 2,863.00p -2.35%

Convatec Group (CTEC) 214.80p -2.27%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 659.40p -2.20%

United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,061.00p -1.94%

Fresnillo (FRES) 697.60p -1.94%

SEGRO (SGRO) 820.80p -1.68%

Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,024.00p -1.65%