FTSE 100 movers: South Africa rate rise sends Old Mutual surging

The FTSE 100 was back over the 6,000 mark on Friday, rising 105.69 points (1.78%) to 6,037.47 by mid-afternoon.

Old Mutual topped the list after South Africa’s central bank raised interest rates for the second time in two months yesterday. The bank also cut its growth forecast as it tries to offset inflation pressures by tightening policy.

It came just over a month after President Jacob Zuma replaced his finance minister twice – first with a relatively unknown and inexperienced person and second with previous finance minister Pravin Gordhan.

Shares in Imperial Tobacco Group were also up after analysts at Citi added the stock to its Europe Focus list. In a separate note, they pointed out that "FX works in different ways for IMT and BAT. For IMT we lift EPS by 4% for translation gains.”

BT Group also featured on the risers list after it said it has completed its £12.5bn acquisition of mobile network operator EE.

However, the deal still faces a challenge in the form of industry regulator Ofcom, which is currently investigating whether BT should be made to spin off its Openreach arm on competition grounds. The Competition and Markets Authority gave the deal the green light earlier this month, saying it was unlikely to hurt competition. John Wotton, who chaired the CMA inquiry into the deal, said: “Since our provisional findings, we have taken extra time to consider responses in detail but the evidence does not show that this merger is likely to cause significant harm to competition or the interests of consumers. The retail mobile services market in the UK is competitive, with four main mobile providers and a substantial number of smaller operators. As BT is a smaller operator in mobile, it is unlikely that the merger will have a significant effect. Similarly, EE is only a minor player in retail broadband, so again it is unlikely the merger will have a significant effect in this market.”

The blue chip market’s main fallers came from the energy sector as Shell and BG Group retreated, giving back gains from yesterday after oil prices stopped rising.

They had both seen gains throughout the week as both companies’ shareholders approved the merger deal, which is expected to be completed on 15 February, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain customary conditions.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Old Mutual (OML) 167.20p 3.59%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,756.50p 2.81%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 415.00p 2.60%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,340.00p 2.52%
Bunzl (BNZL) 1,848.00p 2.50%
Barclays (BARC) 182.75p 2.44%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,767.00p 2.43%
Intu Properties (INTU) 295.30p 2.43%
BT Group (BT.A) 477.45p 2.41%
St James's Place (STJ) 937.00p 2.40%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 366.40p -4.58%
Glencore (GLEN) 86.89p -3.94%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 656.20p -3.44%
Anglo American (AAL) 267.15p -3.17%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 1,662.50p -2.21%
Fresnillo (FRES) 697.00p -1.69%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,483.50p -0.77%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,484.50p -0.77%
BG Group (BG.) 1,040.00p -0.38%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,170.00p -0.26%