Market Report: Glencore tops FTSE 100's biggest fallers list again
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Version 0 of 1. If there is one company on the UK stock market that shows that China’s problems are not just restricted to the world’s second largest economy, it has to be Glencore. The commodities and mining giant once again found itself at the top of the FTSE 100’s biggest fallers list, slipping another 10.7p to 122.8p. Huge reductions in its working capital have been unable to stem the flow and its shares have plummeted 67 per cent in the past 12 months. More than half of the falls have happened in the past three months. However, while there may be no end in sight for the problems facing China, there was more hope in the US over the future of the country’s interest rates, as poor job figures perversely helped stocks on Wall Street rise. The poor figures were seen by investors as yet another sign that the US Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates this month – or perhaps this year – meaning the easy money can continue to flow. The rise in the US helped the FTSE 100 close up 24.77 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 6,083.31 in another topsy-turvy day, where the bears clung on to the China troubles as a sign of worse to come and the bulls looked to the US. A strong performance by the equipment hire firm Ashtead saw its shares close 71p higher at 988p as it revealed that profits and revenues both surged in the first quarter. Hikma Pharmaceuticals also closed up an impressive 97p at 2,322p, thanks to Barclays raising its price target by 35 per cent and a positive note from HSBC. Other thumbs-ups from analysts at UBS helped Merlin Entertainment close up 4.9p at 382.1p, while the fashion retailer SuperGroup hit 1,500p, up 55p after an upgrade from RBC Capital. In other fashion news, Asos founder Nick Robertson’s decision to stand down as chief executive sent its shares down by 84p to 2,900p, in a sign that investors will miss his vision at the top. He passes the reins to Nick Beighton and takes a seat on the board as a non-executive. Finally, British Airways owner IAG closed up 14.5p at 542.5p as its takeover of Aer Lingus was completed. |