(Sharecast News) – London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.5% at 7,376.25 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Ocado was the standout gainer on the index, having tumbled on Wednesday. Answers on a postcard, please.
Standard Chartered slid after it posted a drop in third-quarter pre-tax profit as it took a hit from its exposure to the Chinese property and banking sectors.
In the three months to the end of September, pre-tax profit fell to $633m from $1.4bn a year earlier. Analysts were expecting pre-tax profit of $1.44bn.
The bank said credit impairment charges in the quarter were $294m, up $62m on the same period a year earlier, and of which $186m related to the Chinese commercial real estate sector.
StanChart said it reduced the carrying value of its investment in China Bohai Bank by $697m. This reflected subdued earnings and a challenging macroeconomic outlook, it said.
Unilever was also in the red as the consumer goods giant laid out plans to boost growth and posted a dip in third-quarter revenues.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 493.00p 7.17%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,088.00p 2.05%
M&G (MNG) 195.80p 1.82%
National Grid (NG.) 993.60p 1.76%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 256.60p 1.70%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,022.00p 1.64%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 273.40p 1.60%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 108.10p 1.60%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 802.00p 1.52%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 74.89p 1.34%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 641.40p -10.17%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 415.10p -8.69%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 530.80p -4.12%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,868.00p -3.03%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,679.00p -2.21%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,920.00p -2.19%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,944.00p -1.73%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 12,705.00p -1.63%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 111.30p -1.50%
Shell (SHEL) 2,687.50p -1.12%
