FTSE 100 movers: AB Foods retreats; energy firms rally
London’s FTSE 100 was down 1% at 7,225.19 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
Primark owner Associated British Foods was under the cosh as JPMorgan put the shares on "negative catalyst watch" as it warned the cost-of-living crisis for UK consumers has only just begun.
In a broader note on the sector, JPM said retailers were entering an at best uncertain environment with input costs and opex still much higher than pre-crisis levels, 12% UK minimum wage inflation, and wholesale utilities costs already more than triple digit inflation even if now frozen.
Miners were also weaker following the release of disappointing Chinese trade data, with Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Glencore all down.
Pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca fell after a downgrade to ‘equalweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
Going the other way, energy firms SSE and British Gas owner Centrica were the standout gainers on the index as new Prime Minister Liz Truss ruled out a windfall tax.
FTSE 100 - Risers
SSE (SSE) 1,775.00p 5.22%
Centrica (CNA) 84.50p 3.12%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 855.80p 2.49%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,096.00p 1.01%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,868.00p 0.99%
Relx plc (REL) 2,261.00p 0.98%
Fresnillo (FRES) 689.80p 0.82%
Avast (AVST) 721.80p 0.78%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,854.00p 0.74%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,185.00p 0.74%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,441.00p -4.54%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 583.20p -3.22%
Next (NXT) 5,990.00p -3.20%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 713.40p -2.91%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 122.95p -2.81%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,620.00p -2.40%
Kingfisher (KGF) 240.50p -2.35%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,741.00p -2.33%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,272.00p -2.30%
Glencore (GLEN) 475.75p -2.28%