FTSE 100 movers: Miners rise while house builders slip

The FTSE 100 was trading in the green on Tuesday afternoon, as investors digested news of the trade deficit narrowing and rewarded big miners.

FTSE 100

8,072.39

17:14 08/11/24

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Outsourcing group Capita was among the top risers, after it reaffirmed its confidence of achieving 4% organic sales growth in 2016 despite having secured less than half the amount of contracts as at the same time last year.

The company had secured £458m aggregate major contracts and acquired four businesses so far, against £1.2bn secured and seven businesses acquired last May.

Its board put the drop down to some contract decisions taking “a little longer than expected”, with the bid pipeline standing at £4.7bn on 25 February.

"Whilst some of these contract decisions are taking a little longer than expected to come through, we expect a flow of bid outcomes over the rest of this year and the prospect list of opportunities behind our pipeline remains strong."

Capital expenditure at Capita is expected to be lower than last year, and the annualised net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is forecast to be in the range of 2 to 2.5 in 2016, against 2.5 in 2015.

Low-cost carrier easyJet was also among the risers, despite missing expectations and swinging to a loss before tax of £24m for the six months to 31 March, against a profit of £7m a year earlier.

Terrorism was blamed on a downturn in the general travel market in easyJet’s Europe and Mediterranean markets in the last six months, though currency had a more profound effect on the numbers - at constant currency it made a profit before tax of £5m.

The consensus estimate before the result was for a £26m profit before tax, although Numis did warn at the weekend that it expected a loss from easyJet after the France, Egypt and Belgium terror attacks.

Fellow operator in the international travel market, TUI, was also on the up ahead of its results on Wednesday. It is expected to maintain revenue of around €3.6bn with higher earnings despite the terror-related downturn.

Big miners filled out the top risers, with Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto all sporting gains, as the plunge in iron ore price seen on Monday looked to be abating.

Comex copper futures were also creeping up to be just in the green.

House builders were a theme of the fallers, with Taylor Wimpey, Berkeley Group and Barratt Developments all losing out as Brexit fears continued.

At lunchtime, former Cabinet Office chief economist Jonathan Portes warned in a paper for the National Institute of Economic and Social Research that if a full 50% cut on migration was achieved, it would lead to a 2p increase in income tax.

The companies were also still reeling from news on Monday that house price growth was cooling, as the new buy-to-let stamp duty rules took hold.

The fall in retail sales reported by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG - where like-for-like sales slipped 0.9% in April compared to the same month last year - were hurting retail-focused Intu Properties, while investors were seemingly displeased by plans revealed by Associated British Foods to sell its Chinese sugar business for as much as £700m.

Commercial broadcaster ITV was also being punished ahead of results later this week, with investors fearing the worst over television advertising revenue.

HSBC last week forecast advertising revenue growth would be flat at the group, with group revenue growth of 8% largely driven by ITV Studios. Analysts there said Brexit risks appeared to be piling uncertainty onto advertisers.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 596.60p 6.63%
Capita (CPI) 1,075.00p 4.98%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 491.45p 2.95%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 965.50p 2.66%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,064.00p 2.60%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 813.40p 2.53%
Barclays (BARC) 162.45p 2.52%
GKN (GKN) 280.60p 2.48%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,504.00p 2.31%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,006.50p 2.14%