London’s FTSE 100 was down 1.6% at 7,170.20 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Aerospace and defence giant Rolls-Royce was the standout loser on the index.
Glencore, Admiral and Antofagasta also lost ground as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.
On the upside, Centrica and SSE were among the risers, having fallen sharply a day earlier amid worries about the potential for a windfall tax on their profits.
Pearson rallied after JPMorgan Cazenove reinstated its ‘overweight’ rating on shares of the education publisher, highlighting its defensive qualities.
JPM said it believes that Pearson is “walking the walk” and is making good progress on delivering on its strategy.
The bank said Pearson is no 1 ranked in MediaScreen, its quant-based overlay that applies the style cycle to the media sector.
“Its defensive qualities, low risk, good quality and strong earnings momentum suggest that it has the attributes for further outperformance during the current contraction phase of the cycle,” JPM said.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Centrica (CNA) 77.08p 1.77%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 114.65p 1.51%
Pearson (PSON) 875.60p 1.48%
SSE (SSE) 1,674.00p 1.30%
Avast (AVST) 715.20p 1.16%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,900.00p 0.18%
Meggitt (MGGT) 798.20p 0.00%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,800.00p 0.00%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,624.00p -0.19%
Rightmove (RMV) 605.80p -0.30%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 71.07p -7.70%
Glencore (GLEN) 438.65p -7.32%
Entain (ENT) 1,182.50p -7.11%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,284.00p -6.07%
3i Group (III) 1,151.50p -5.27%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,012.00p -5.18%
British Land Company (BLND) 409.00p -5.06%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 129.75p -4.95%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 10,240.00p -4.88%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,048.50p -4.77%
