FTSE 100 movers: Sage rallies on update but Sainsbury's slumps

London's FTSE 100 was down 0.3% to 7,226.38 in afternoon trade as investors mulled the latest UK construction data and looked to the Fed's latest policy announcement.

Software group Sage was the biggest gainer as it posted a jump in first-half profit as subscriptions rose and it said it expects to exceed its full-year revenue guidance.

For the six months to 31 March, pre-tax profit was up 41.1% to £180m on revenue of £840m, up 22.7% from the first half of 2016.

Shire was on the front foot a day after reporting a 109% surge in revenue for the first quarter and saying it was on track to achieve its full-year guidance.

InterContinental Hotels was boosted by an initiation at 'outperform' from Bernstein. "IHG has completed the transition to asset light and can now grow sales and margin while expending very little capital. Its pipeline is growing, meaning even faster growth to come and margins will keep expanding as scale improves," the bank said.

Direct Line pushed higher as it said business continued to motor ahead during the first quarter of the year, driven by strong demand for its own brand motor insurance, with the company reiterating its guidance for key metrics in fiscal year 2017.

On the downside, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s was under the cosh after it said full-year profit dropped 8.2%. It was also weighed by data from Kantar Worldpanel which showed its market share shrank to 16.1% in the 12 weeks to 13 April from 16.5%.

Tesco was also weaker, although Kantar data showed its sales rose 1.9%, up from what appears to be a blip a month ago when sales fell 0.4%.

Paddy Power Betfair was trading lower despite reporting an 87% rise in first-quarter earnings as revenues were boosted by the weaker pound and favourable results at Cheltenham.

Risers

Sage Group (SGE) 708.50p 3.37%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,077.00p 2.09%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,746.50p 2.09%
Pearson (PSON) 658.00p 1.94%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,164.00p 1.36%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 359.90p 1.24%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,644.00p 1.23%
Wolseley (WOS) 5,045.00p 0.96%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,072.00p 0.93%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,571.00p 0.90%

Fallers

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 264.00p -5.69%
Tesco (TSCO) 176.50p -3.58%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 297.00p -3.41%
Glencore (GLEN) 287.95p -3.17%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,134.00p -3.08%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 785.50p -2.84%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,557.00p -2.81%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,525.00p -2.79%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,048.50p -2.73%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,966.00p -2.56%