FTSE 100 movers: Intu gains on upgrade; miners drop on China data
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,314.65 in afternoon trade as investors digested centrist and pro-European Emmanuel Macron's win in the in French presidential election.
Intu Properties was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'sell' at Kempen, which lifted its price target on the stock to 285p from 265p.
British Gas owner Centrica was on the front foot after it said energy consumption has been lower than expected in the UK and North America so far in 2017 due to warmer than normal weather and that UK wholesale oil, gas and power prices have all fallen since it announced results in February. But the company insisted it remained on track to achieve the 2017 targets set out in its results announcement, including adjusted operating cash flow of at least £2bn.
Heavily-weighted mining stocks were hit by uninspiring data from China, which showed exports rose 14.3% from the year before in yuan terms in April, following a 22.3% jump in March, while imports were up 18.6% compared to a 26.3% increase the month before. Economists had expected a rise of 16.8% and 29.3%, respectively.
Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Glencore, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Fresnillo were all in the red.
Glencore fell despite an upgrade to 'outperform' from 'neutral' by Macquarie, which pointed out that it offers double the earnings growth of the peer group over the next five years and that its superior growth is not being reflected in the current share price.
Macquarie noted that Glencore is trading on the lowest EV/EBITDA multiple among the majors over the next three years.
Risers
Intu Properties (INTU) 277.50p 2.89%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,139.00p 2.61%
Centrica (CNA) 202.90p 2.11%
SSE (SSE) 1,454.00p 2.11%
Next (NXT) 4,312.00p 1.84%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,012.00p 1.66%
National Grid (NG.) 1,036.00p 1.52%
British Land Company (BLND) 672.50p 1.43%
Hammerson (HMSO) 596.00p 1.36%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,115.00p 1.34%
Fallers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 749.50p -2.54%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,116.50p -2.06%
Glencore (GLEN) 283.10p -2.06%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,919.50p -2.00%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,010.00p -1.99%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,653.00p -1.84%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,396.00p -1.62%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 264.70p -1.60%
CRH (CRH) 2,876.00p -1.51%
Pearson (PSON) 728.50p -1.49%