FTSE 100 movers: Mondi boosted by upgrade; Imperial Brands slumps
London's FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 8,581.15 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
Mondi was a high riser as JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded shares of the packaging and paper group to 'overweight' from 'neutral'.
The bank pointed to limited downside risk in containerboard markets and to upside risks in kraft paper markets.
In addition, it said consensus estimates are becoming more reasonable, signalling the end of the earnings downgrade cycle.
Spirax was under the cosh as the manufacturing group delivered a cautious outlook, saying that the uncertainty caused by trade tariffs is impacting customers' capital investment decisions.
Imperial Brands was also weaker as its first-half adjusted operating profit missed expectations and the company announced the retirement of chief executive Stefan Bomhard, who will be succeeded by Lukas Paravicini.
Experian fell after full-year results, while housebuilder Persimmon retreated after announcing the sale of FibreNest - its full fibre broadband service - to BUUK Infrastructure in a £100m deal.
Persimmon said it plans to use the proceeds from the sale of this non-core asset to invest further in the growth strategy set out in March.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Entain (ENT) 789.60p 3.35%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,227.00p 3.24%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 355.40p 2.90%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 173.30p 2.48%
Kingfisher (KGF) 314.40p 2.44%
Glencore (GLEN) 275.15p 2.00%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,700.00p 1.58%
Beazley (BEZ) 887.50p 1.49%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 864.00p 1.43%
Relx plc (REL) 4,003.00p 1.37%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Spirax Group (SPX) 6,055.00p -8.05%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,702.00p -6.51%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 469.70p -2.33%
Experian (EXPN) 3,898.00p -2.11%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,100.00p -2.08%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,339.50p -1.94%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 117.20p -1.80%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 18,090.00p -1.79%
Fresnillo (FRES) 994.50p -1.53%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 318.00p -1.46%
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