FTSE 100 movers: Randgold and IAG lead rise

UK blue chip stocks were on the front foot on Tuesday, led by gold miners and airlines.

Randgold Resources and Fresnillo were among the top risers as the yellow metal made a further ascent as heightened geopolitical tension around Syria and North Korea bumped up demand for safe haven assets.

Gold continued to pressure its 200-day moving average of $1257, noted analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya at LCG, adding that a positive break should open the way for a further advance to $1280.

British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group and Easyjet were both carried higher by strong traffic figures from Deutsche Lufthansa, topping an encouraging repot from Air France-KLM on Monday.

Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas also highlighted that movement in fuel pricing will "have a far greater impact on unit revenue than capacity", reiterating it backing for IAG as its top pick in the sector and lifting its target price 11% to 640p.

Persimmon was on the leaderboard as the latest data from the Office for National Statistics indicated a slight uptick in average house prices in England up to end of February, helping sooth lingering fears around the sector.

With prices in London and the South East having dropped around 1%, Persimmon's lack of exposure to the capital helped make Persimmon the biggest riser in the sector, said analyst Nicholas Hyett at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Next was among one of the few FTSE 100 fallers after the British Retail Consortium revealed numbers showing the largest fall in non-food retail spending in nearly six years.

"Next has previously warned of the dangers of rising inflation on consumer spending, and expects to increase its own prices by around 5% because of the impact of weaker sterling on its input costs," Hyett said.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,388.41 0.54%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,351.19 0.45%
techMARK (TASX) 3,446.56 0.29%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,515.00p 3.94%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 547.00p 3.50%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,090.00p 3.22%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,628.00p 2.84%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,221.00p 1.97%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,115.00p 1.83%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,594.00p 1.76%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,372.00p 1.72%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,316.00p 1.66%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 810.00p 1.63%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,928.00p -0.92%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 237.00p -0.84%
Carnival (CCL) 4,579.00p -0.54%
CRH (CRH) 2,775.00p -0.36%
Provident Financial (PFG) 3,150.00p -0.32%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 734.50p -0.29%
Next (NXT) 4,101.00p -0.22%
Prudential (PRU) 1,676.00p -0.21%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 62.95p -0.16%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,053.00p -0.15%