FTSE 100 movers: RBS rallies but WPP drops after update

London's FTSE 100 was down 0.5% to 7,485.68 in afternoon trade as the pound gained ground ahead of Thursday's election.

RBS was the best performer as it emerged that a hardcore minority of its shareholders refused to accept the state-owned bank's settlement offer, although a High Court judge stopped the case on Wednesday. Peer Lloyds Banking Group was also on the front foot, with banks generally boosted by news that Banco Santander has rescued struggling Banco Popular from collapse, picking it up for just €1.

RBS was also lifted by upgrade at Investec.

Housebuilders Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey got a boost as the latest figures from mortgage lender Halifax showed UK house prices held up better than expected last month, although the year-on-year rate of price gains continued to cool.

Going the other way, advertising giant WPP was in the red after it said revenue in the first four months of the year rose, underpinned by a weak pound. In a statement at its annual general meeting in London, the company said reported revenue in the first four months of the year was up 15.9% to £4.85bn. At constancy currency, however, revenue was up 3.4%, reflecting ongoing weakness of sterling versus the dollar, the euro and other major currency.

Shire was under the cosh as Indian generics company Zydus Cadila had its generic form of Shire's Lialda approved. Zydus already won its patent appeal earlier this year, meaning it could launch the generic imminently.

In addition, traders also pointed to news that Shire and Kamada have agreed that the Investigational New Drug application approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the phase 2/3 study evaluating Alpha-1 Antitrypsin (G1-AAT IV) for the treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease will be transferred from Shire to Kamada. Kamada will take full ownership and responsibility for the clinical development of the product in this indication.

Shire had been leading the G1-AAT IV GvHD programme in the US, while Kamada was leading the programme in the EU.

Risers

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 258.00p 2.50%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,380.00p 1.49%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,396.00p 1.45%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 347.80p 1.40%
Glencore (GLEN) 286.60p 1.38%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 181.40p 1.34%
3i Group (III) 944.00p 1.23%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,057.00p 1.15%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 796.00p 1.14%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 69.72p 1.13%

Fallers

WPP (WPP) 1,674.00p -2.73%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,409.00p -2.50%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,994.00p -1.48%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 5,276.00p -1.48%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 8,004.00p -1.28%
Tesco (TSCO) 179.45p -1.21%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,985.00p -1.16%
Royal Mail (RMG) 435.00p -1.11%
Wolseley (WOS) 4,942.00p -0.98%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 915.50p -0.97%