FTSE 100 movers: Tesco tumble pulls index lower; Rolls-Royce flies on
A poor reception for Tesco results led to a fall for all supermarkets on Wednesday and kept the FTSE 100 in slight negative territory.
The company reported a 29.9% rise in adjusted group full year operating profits to £1.28bn on the back of a 4.3% increase in group sales to £49.9bn. However, including the costs of the recently announced Serious Fraud Office fine and the accompanying compensation agreement, reported profits fell 39% on a constant currency basis.
The sentiment spread to also send shares in Sainsbury's and Morrisons lower.
BHP Billiton declined after it issued a detailed response to the proposals from activist investor Elliott Advisors earlier in the week, saying that Elliott "materially overstates the potential value that could be created".
BHP is being pressured to sell its US oil business and overhaul its structure for tax benefits. However it batted away Elliott's suggestions, adding that creating a single tax structure would "destroy $1.3bn value".
Other miners were also off with Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Glencore and Randgold all in the red.
Rolls-Royce was also on the front foot, mostly likely on read-across from an upgrade to 250 constituent Meggitt.
South African private hospital group Mediclinic International continued to advance on Monday's positive news that its Swiss platform, Hirslanden, is expected to take a limited hit in 2018 after the Zurich Cantonal Parliament voted not to approve a proposed levy on privately insured patients treated in listed hospitals.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,362.42 -0.04%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,387.54 0.42%
techMARK (TASX) 3,464.49 0.72%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 832.50p 2.71%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 738.50p 2.07%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 289.80p 1.90%
BAE Systems (BA.) 653.00p 1.79%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,500.00p 1.47%
Sage Group (SGE) 648.00p 1.41%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,434.00p 1.33%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,622.00p 1.27%
Old Mutual (OML) 193.90p 1.25%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,067.00p 1.22%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Tesco (TSCO) 185.35p -5.24%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,173.00p -3.13%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,280.50p -2.59%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,188.50p -2.46%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 259.10p -2.23%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 831.00p -2.06%
Glencore (GLEN) 313.85p -2.04%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,062.00p -1.48%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 232.60p -1.48%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,470.00p -1.45%