LONDON (ShareCast) - Anglo-Dutch consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser was firmly lower after its biggest shareholder (JAB) sold around a third of its holding (4.9 per cent of the issued share capital of Reckitt).

The share went at 3,350p a pop, raising a total of £1.2bn for JAB.

Experian, the credit check and financial data company, dropped after reporting underlying earnings below expectations for the full year to the end of March, while announcing the sale of its PriceGrabber price comparison service.

Telecoms titan BT was also lower after full-year revenue slipped 4.0%. Underlying revenue excluding transit revenue was down 1.9% for the year, within the group's target range, but underlying pre-tax profit rose 17% to beat expectations.

Meanwhile, miners were performing well despite the gloomy Chinese data sparking concerns over demand for commodities from the world's second-largest economy. Polymetal, Kazakhmys and ENRC were on the rise with the latter making gains despite seeing a "significant" decline in group revenue in the first quarter, mainly as a result of a strong comparator and falling commodities prices.

South African financial conglomerate Old Mutual was also a strong riser after saying it saw positive net client cash flows throughout the group in the first quarter, while sales continued to be strong in emerging markets.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Polymetal International (POLY) 822.50p +7.17%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 516.50p +4.07%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 507.00p +4.00%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 31.09p +3.95%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,573.00p +3.90%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 788.50p +3.89%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,126.00p +3.40%
Old Mutual (OML) 148.70p +3.34%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 540.00p +3.15%
Barclays (BARC) 208.30p +2.94%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,443.00p -3.45%
Experian (EXPN) 929.00p -2.31%
BT Group (BT.A) 212.20p -2.30%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,440.00p -1.50%
Diageo (DGE) 1,535.00p -1.41%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,503.00p -1.18%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,196.00p -1.16%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,088.00p -0.99%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,120.00p -0.93%
Capita (CPI) 656.00p -0.83%

NR

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