FTSE 100 movers: Burberry and airlines lead FTSE fall

London's FTSE 100 index was in the red on Tuesday as declines in airlines and housebuilders offset a mining bounce.

Household Goods & Home Construction

11,324.30

15:45 15/11/24

-0.77%

-87.44

By mid-afternoon the blue chip benchmark was down 0.57% at 6,269.7 points, with Burberry leading the descent after it was downgraded by analysts at Nomura in a note on luxury stocks. The Japanese bank cut its rating to 'neutral' on a finely balanced investment case, where a strong seasonal product line-up was balanced by expectations of an ambitious rebound in LFL sales that indicated there was a downside risk to consensus expectations. In another note on the luxury sector by RBC Capital Markets, analysts there commented on a "marked deterioration in sentiment on Burberry" after meeting 30 investors in the US and Canada last week.

Shares in IAG and easyJet flew lower after British Airways and the budget airline suspended all flights to and from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheik due to security concerns. BA flights have been cancelled up to and including 14 January and easyJet services to the Egyptian resort are suspended until at least 6 January.

Hotel companies Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn, and InterContinental Hotels also were knocked lower by worries about the effects on tourism.

Housebuilders, notably Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments, were also lower ahead of Chancellor George Osborne's autumn statement on Wednesday, which is expected to contain some major developments for the sector. In a note to clients, Deutsche Bank noted that the last Budget saw a 5% fall from the building sector, but expected the reaction to be more moderate this time.

The risers were led by commodities-focused stocks, with miners Glencore, Anglo American, Randgold, Fresnillo and BHP Billiton all in the top ten, along with Shell and BP as copper and Brent crude futures both moved ahead. Copper made a small recovery after comments from Chile sent it lower overnight, while oil was towards the upper end of the recent range with long sellers using Turkey's kerfuffle with Russia and Saudi comments to bump up the price a week before OPEC meets.

Intertek shares were lifted after the testing, inspection and certification services company said it was on track to meet full year targets as it benefits from good growth in its products and trade-related businesses.

A positive interim result also boosted Babcock International, with news of 12% growth in underlying revenue for the first half of the year, due to strong growth in its support services division.

Rolls-Royce was another riser after giving details of a “major restructuring” from new CEO Warren East. The aerospace and engineering firm released an outline of its intentions on Tuesday ahead of a full presentation later in the day that will show how it plans to save between £150m and £200m per year from 2017.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 95.50p 5.62%
Anglo American (AAL) 456.35p 3.45%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,659.00p 3.02%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,071.00p 2.91%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,034.00p 2.89%
Fresnillo (FRES) 720.00p 2.71%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 578.50p 1.67%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 884.20p 1.48%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,646.50p 1.23%
BP (BP.) 385.30p 1.20%