FTSE 100 movers: Randgold shines but housebuilders slip
London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2% to 7,173.85 in afternoon trade.
Randgold Resources was the standout gainer after saying it will hike its dividend by 52% after an increase in full year profit and gold production. A rise in gold prices and lower costs helped the company achieve a 38% jump in profit to $294.2m.
Outsourcer Capita – which runs the government’s Electronic Monitoring Services – was under the cosh following reports over the weekend that Scotland Yard is investigating claims that workers at the company were paid by convicts to deliberately fit electronic ankle tags loosely so they could slip out of them when they wanted to go out.
Staff were allegedly paid £400 a time to help at least 32 offenders to beat their court-imposed curfews.
Housebuilders Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments, and Persimmon were all on the back foot on reports the government is expected to reveal a major shift in housing policy in a white paper this week.
The white paper will deliver more affordable and secure rental deals and threaten tougher action against rogue landlords, for those unable to buy due to rising property prices, the Guardian reported. Housebuilders will also have to adhere to a timetable to build their homes or they may lose their planning permission.
Reckitt Benckiser declined as RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to ‘underperform’ from ‘sector perform’ and cut the price target to 6,300p from 7,000 following the company’s confirmation it is in advanced talks to buy US baby milk company Mead Johnson for around $16.7bn.
The Canadian bank said it is not convinced the proposed acquisition works strategically, operationally or financially and if it does it comes with a higher level of risk than anything Reckitt has acquired before because of the size of the deal.
Risers
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,190.00p 4.81%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 812.50p 3.04%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,494.00p 1.70%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 678.00p 1.04%
BAE Systems (BA.) 589.00p 0.94%
Capita (CPI) 490.10p 0.84%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,256.00p 0.71%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 583.50p 0.69%
National Grid (NG.) 933.70p 0.61%
Fallers
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 168.80p -2.20%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 298.10p -2.13%
Tesco (TSCO) 193.15p -2.10%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 491.10p -2.07%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 475.10p -1.98%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,934.00p -1.88%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 260.00p -1.81%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,005.00p -1.74%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 334.30p -1.73%
Worldpay Group (WPG) 278.40p -1.49%