FTSE 100 movers: Sports Direct rallies ahead of demotion; Berkeley slumps

London’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.1% to 6,207.94 as investors paused to take stock of a week jam-packed full of events, including the Budget and the Bank of England rate announcement.

Shares in Sports Direct surged on Friday, with traders attributing the push higher to short-covering ahead of the stock’s demotion to the FTSE 250 next week.

The retailer has been under the cosh since late last year, when it was hit by a damning report in the Guardian about its treatment of staff and pay, while a profit warning in January caused the shares to tank.

More recently, the company’s boss Mike Ashley was made to appear before a commons select committee to be questioned over Sports Direct’s use of zero-hour contracts and allegations about harsh conditions impose on its warehouse staff.

Shares in the company may have been sharply higher on Friday but year-to-date their performance has been dismal, down 25%.

Smiths Group got a boost after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to ‘outperform’ from ‘sector perform’ and lifted the price target to 1,225p from 1,050p saying it expects the recent outperformance to continue.

The Canadian bank forecasts 9% growth in earnings per share in full year 2017, driven by a resumption in organic sales growth and currency, with a weaker pound.

“We believe the share's current 14% PE discount versus UK peers will close over time and note the attractive 4% yield,” it said, adding that the yield should be covered by cash flow following the recent pension funding exercise.

Housebuilder Berkeley Group was in the red. Although the company said it expects full year results to be at the top end of expectations, it also said it saw a 4% drop in forward reservations in the three months to the end of February and questioned the government’s response to the housing crisis.

Risers

Sports Direct International (SPD) 436.40p 8.69%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 496.25p 8.10%
GKN (GKN) 294.20p 4.25%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,118.00p 3.90%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,943.00p 3.38%
Anglo American (AAL) 556.90p 2.96%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,021.00p 2.92%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 878.50p 2.75%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 237.20p 2.73%
Glencore (GLEN) 162.10p 2.59%

Fallers

Mondi (MNDI) 1,325.00p -4.33%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,173.00p -2.58%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 526.00p -2.14%
Fresnillo (FRES) 986.00p -2.09%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,530.00p -1.88%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,082.00p -1.47%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,856.00p -1.33%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,383.00p -1.18%
Rexam (REX) 624.00p -0.79%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,725.00p -0.78%