FTSE 100 movers: Banks lead the charge after stress test results

The FTSE 100 was in the black on Tuesday, sitting at 6,379.33, up 23.24 points (0.37%) by mid-afternoon.

The biggest risers came from the banking sector after all seven of Britain's largest banks passed stress tests by the Bank of England, with Governor Mark Carney assuring that no new wave of higher capital requirements was incoming. Investors took confidence from Carney's affirmation that banks would need to hold Tier 1 equity of 11% of risk-adjusted assets by 2019, which is less than the 13% that was already held in aggregate by the major banks in September.

While all banks passes the main stress test scenario of weathering a theoretical deterioration in global economic conditions, the Royal Bank of Scotland failed to meet its individual capital guidance requirements and Standard Chartered failed to reach its so-called Tier 1 minimum capital requirement of 6%. However, both lenders have strengthened sufficiently since to pass muster. Capital was considered to be adequate at the other five lenders included in the tests: Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide Building Society, Lloyds and Santander UK. As a result, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group all featured in the top 10.

Hammerson also rose after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock from ‘neutral’ to ‘buy’. It said that the shares trade on 5.2% earnings yield, 62 basis points above their historical average. “In contrast, other European real estate stocks trade 43 bp below theirs,” it noted. “At the same time, we expect Hammerson to deliver a 10% 2014-18E EPS CAGR, up from 5% in the last four years and significantly ahead of the -1% to +7% we expect for other European retail landlords.”

Meanwhile Aberdeen Asset Management led the fallers, continuing its downward streak from Monday’s results. Full year underlying pre-tax profits at the investment house rose only slightly to £491m from £490m due to the slump in Asian and emerging market equities. Assets under management slid to £283.7bn from £324.4bn as a result of investors fleeing the stock market in search of better returns in other asset classes. Revenues were up 5% to £1.17bn, while cash at the end of the year was £531m, down from £567m. Chief executive Martin Gilbert said the weakness in equity markets “may have some way to run”.

And Babcock International Group was a prominent faller after Citi analysts Ed Steele, Marc van’T Sant and Avinash Mundhra said they were adding top-line and succession risks to their previous concerns surrounding the company’s margins and cash-flow. They said it is in a sweet-spot strategically, given its growing market and “solid” barriers to entry, but at present there are “too many risks for comfort” around the investment case. As a result, they trimmed their earnings per share forecasts for 2017 and 2018 by 2% each, lowered their target price on the stock to 1,000p and downgraded its recommendation to ‘sell’.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Barclays (BARC) 233.45p 4.59%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,145.00p 3.90%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 311.00p 2.84%
Hammerson (HMSO) 625.00p 2.38%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 74.69p 2.37%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,281.00p 2.18%
G4S (GFS) 231.80p 2.16%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,611.00p 2.15%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,121.00p 1.95%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,636.00p 1.93%