FTSE 100 roundup: Today’s winners and losers
The FTSE 100 finished 0.74 per cent up today, nudging just above 7,000 points to finish on 7,020.22.
The index was bolstered by weakness in the pound after the release of further disappointing manufacturing statistics this morning. Sterling has had a tough end to an already difficult week, falling 0.3 per cent against the dollar, striking a week-long low of $1.3074, and 0.4 per cent against the euro, taking it to €1.1141.
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Top 5 FTSE 100 winners | Percentage change |
Melrose Industries | +3.50 |
Coca-Cola HBC | +3.44 |
CRH | +2.47 |
3I Group | +2.40 |
Croda International | +2.34 |
Coca-Cola HBC, the world’s second-largest Coca-Cola anchor bottler saw shares rise as Goldman Sachs upgraded its stock in a research note earlier this week, while Hargreaves Lansdown recovered slightly today after suffering a sharp drop on announcing results on Tuesday.
The firm suffered a 24 per cent drop in new business in the second half of last year, sending shares down six per cent, but investors look to be slowly regaining confidence.
Top 5 FTSE 100 losers | Percentage change |
Fresnillo | -3.54 |
Glencore | -1.03 |
Intertek Group | -0.86 |
BT Group | -0.71 |
Tesco | -0.49 |
Glencore shares were down despite Nickel and copper production increasing by 13 per cent and 11 per cent respectively, as the mega miner enters a dispute with the Democratic Republic of Congo's government, as state officials told the firm to stop plans to extract uranium from its cobalt reserve
Meanwhile Fresnillo shares dropped after JPMorgan cut its price target for the firm to 1,100p from 1,150p in a research note, and Intertek was down after Jefferies downgraded the product testing and certification company.
TalkTalk Telecom performed badly among the mid-cap companies, down 7.17 per cent after the phone and broadband providers said its full financial year earnings are set to miss analyst expectations, despite record demand for its services among clients in the third quarter.
In US markets, Amazon shares were down 4.03 per cent after predicting lower-than-expected revenue for the current quarter last night, despite reporting record sales for its busiest period of the year.
Read more: Hargreaves Lansdown assets falls six per cent on market volatility and weak investor confidence
The Dow Jones was up slightly, gaining 0.55 per cent this afternoon off the back of today's US jobs report, which showed 304,000 jobs were added last month. However, analysts pointed to the possibility of US government workers obtaining part-time jobs in the private sector, and reported scepticism among traders about the validity of the number.
Meanwhile the Dax was just below even as trading closed this afternoon, riding out a rocky day which began with concerning factory statistics across the Eurozone, with Italy's manufacturing PMI falling to its lowest level since 2013.