London’s FTSE 100 was flat at 7,022.24 in afternoon trade.
In very quiet Friday afternoon trading, B&Q owner Kingfisher was the worst performer, having rallied a day earlier on the back of a first-quarter update.
Shopping centre owners British Land and Land Securities also fell.
On the upside, Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment was the best performer on the index, closely followed by BT.
BT shares had fallen on Thursday after Berenberg downgraded the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’. The bank noted that BT shares have materially re-rated since its upgrade note in August 2020.
“BT’s share price has increased 75% since then, outperforming the Stoxx Europe 600 Telecommunications Index (SXKP) by 50%,” it said.
“After a busy calendar H1 2021, with lots of events to cause the re-rating, we do not believe that there are as many positive catalysts to come. As such, we struggle to justify putting BT’s investment case ahead of others, in a sector that offers many ‘cheap’ stocks. We, therefore, recommend taking profits and downgrade to hold.”
FTSE 100 – Risers
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 13,055.00p 3.04%
BT Group (BT.A) 175.70p 2.84%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,557.50p 2.30%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 194.82p 1.57%
Fresnillo (FRES) 892.00p 1.48%
Entain (ENT) 1,583.50p 1.31%
St James’s Place (STJ) 1,381.50p 1.13%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,658.50p 1.10%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,834.50p 1.07%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 6,300.00p 1.03%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Kingfisher (KGF) 357.20p -4.54%
British Land Company (BLND) 512.00p -3.43%
Informa (INF) 527.40p -2.12%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 705.20p -1.92%
Pearson (PSON) 830.60p -1.70%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 564.80p -1.64%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 170.65p -1.19%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,499.00p -1.15%
Rightmove (RMV) 594.40p -1.10%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,171.00p -1.09%
