FTSE 100 movers: Miners rally as copper prices surge; Convatec crumbles on warning
London’s FTSE 100 was flat at 7,534.26 in afternoon trade on Monday.
Heavily-weighted mining stocks racked up the strongest gains as copper prices hit a fresh three-year high after China’s consumer price index jumped 1.6% in September from the year before, in line with expectations. Meanwhile, the producer price index was up 6.9% last month from a year ago, beating expectations
Broadcaster ITV was on the front foot as HSBC upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’, saying the risk/reward balance is much more attractive than before now that there is 20% upside to the current share price. When it downgraded ITV back in June, it flagged unsupportive ad momentum led by FMCG clients pressuring consensus. “We no longer believed ITV was cheap, but cheap for a reason. As we have become incrementally more constructive on advertising momentum, we change our view.”
AstraZeneca was boosted by an upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse. The bank said that following recent pipeline success for Tagrisso and Imfinzi, it sees a marked improvement in Astra’s strategic position in pricing power and replacement power.
On the downside, ConvaTec tanked after warning that revenues and profits for the full year will be lower than it had previously guided and that growth targets in 2018 may need to be adjusted.
Although revenues in the third quarter grew 6.7% to $445.5m, which equates to 5.1% at constant exchange rates and 3.3% on an organic basis, the company said it now anticipated full year organic revenue growth of 1-2% after performance was severely affected by supply issues in both advanced wound care and ostomy care and a lower than anticipated revenue contribution from new products, which also damaged it profits margins.
GKN was hit by a downgraded to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ at Societe Generale following the company’s profit warning on Friday. It said that while the shares remain attractively valued, it’s likely to take time for earnings momentum to inflect positively, driving a re-rating.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,049.00p 3.35%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,958.00p 2.86%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,435.50p 2.68%
Glencore (GLEN) 384.60p 2.12%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,765.50p 2.09%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,497.50p 1.91%
ITV (ITV) 174.40p 1.04%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 244.00p 0.95%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 5,174.00p 0.92%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,300.50p 0.66%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Convatec Group (CTEC) 204.50p -26.78%
GKN (GKN) 310.00p -2.52%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,061.00p -2.04%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 829.50p -1.89%
3i Group (III) 950.50p -1.71%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,071.00p -1.61%
National Grid (NG.) 918.30p -1.45%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,130.00p -1.44%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,292.00p -1.37%
Kingfisher (KGF) 305.10p -1.36%