FTSE 100 movers: Financials and Miners hit

(Sharecast News) - Abrdn's share price dropped 10% on Tuesday as it reported a drop in assets under management in challenging market conditions and announced a doubling of its share buyback programme. The investment firm said it had been impacted by a difficult market and a "risk-off" environment leading to net outflows.

Mining stocks were largely lower with Glencore leading the way after disappointing first-half results. The commodity giant reported that adjusted core earnings halved in the first six months of the year, as it blamed macro conditions on price reductions in copper, cobalt, nickel and zinc.

Shares in Anglo American, Antofagasta and Rio Rinto were also taking a hit as weaker-than-expected trade data from China raised concerns about demand.

Chinese exports declined by 14.5% year-on-year in July, with the downward trend accelerating after a 12.4% drop in June. "Looking forward, we expect exports to decline further over the coming months before bottoming out toward the end of the year," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics.

Banking stocks were also providing a drag on the UK's benchmark index, with Lloyds, HSBC, Natwest and Standard Chartered all losing ground. Sentiment was hit after Italy's hard-right government imposed a 40% levy on all banking profits for the rest of 2023.

Leading the risers was insurance group Beazley, with shares up nearly 5%. Analysts at Berenberg raised their target price for the stock from 825p to 850p on Tuesday morning, saying that the recent underperformance of the shares "confounds reality".

Hotels operator IHG was trading higher after announcing a sharp jump in half-year profit as the travel sector continued to rebound from the Covid pandemic. Operating profit at the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn owner rose 62% to $584m.



Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,519.62 -0.46%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Beazley (BEZ) 528.50p 4.86% Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,122.00p 2.47% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,778.00p 2.12% AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,056.00p 1.56% Pearson (PSON) 856.40p 1.52% National Grid (NG.) 979.80p 1.49% Admiral Group (ADM) 2,147.00p 1.37% GSK (GSK) 1,369.80p 1.30% Convatec Group (CTEC) 227.80p 0.98% London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,284.00p 0.95%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Abrdn (ABDN) 195.75p -10.41% Glencore (GLEN) 440.65p -3.51% Melrose Industries (MRO) 526.00p -3.17% Barclays (BARC) 146.54p -2.84% Anglo American (AAL) 2,139.00p -2.79% Entain (ENT) 1,366.00p -2.67% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,569.50p -2.58% Fresnillo (FRES) 549.00p -2.52% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 299.80p -1.83% IMI (IMI) 1,556.00p -1.83%