FTSE Down Marginally In Cautious Trade; JD Sports Fashion Falls On Profit Warning
(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are underperforming other European markets on Tuesday with investors largely staying cautious following some downward revisions in earnings forecasts.
The FTSE 100, which is moving in a tight band, is down 7.59 points or 0.09% at 8,216.60.
Persimmon is rising 5.5%. The stock is up thanks to a 7% increase in home completions. The company also said it expects its profit to come in at the upper end of expectations.
St. James's Place, Taylor Wimpey, Ashtead Group, Barratt Redrow, Airtel Africa, Informa and Convatec Group are gaining 2 to 3%.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Pershing Square Holdings, Auto Trader Group, M&G, Rolls-Royce Holdings, IAG, Scottish Mortgage, Rio TInto, EasyJet and Legal & General are up 1 to 1.8%.
JD Sports Fashion is plunging 7.5%, dropping to a near 5-year low in the process. The stock is down after cutting guidance, with pretax profit expectations falling 4% below consensus.
BP is down 2.3%, weighed down by the company's warning that expects a $100-$300 million hit to fourth-quarter profits due to weaker refinery margin and lower production.
Games Workshop, ICG and BP are down 3.4%, 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively. Next, British American Tobacco, GSK, Diageo, Tesco and Centrica are down 1 to 1.5%.