(Sharecast News) – Ocado shares jumped 5% on Monday ahead of an expected nine-month trading update tomorrow, with the stock being helped by a broker upgrade.
Jefferies hiked its target price for the online grocery group from 550p to 750p, as it lifted its medium-term profit margin forecasts for its retail arm, Ocado Retail.
Joint venture partner Marks & Spencer, who owns half of Ocado Retail, was also in demand in afternoon trade.
Housing and property-related stocks were out of favour, including Land Securities, Rightmove, CRH, Berkeley Group and Barratt Development as markets awaited another potential interest-rate hike by the Bank of England on Thursday.
Analysts unanimously expect the central bank to tighten monetary policy further this week, but it is hoped that this will be the peak for rates in the current cycle, before rates are cut in 2024.
Meanwhile, in more gloomy news for the housing sector, the Rightmove House Price Index out Monday showed the annual change in prices was -0.4%, worse than August’s 0.1% decline and the biggest annual dip since March 2019.
Paper and packaging group Mondi rose 4% after selling its last remaining facility in Russia to Sezar Invest for €775m. Western companies have exited Russia after sanctions were imposed in response to Moscow’s unprovoked invasion on neighbouring Ukraine.
Savings and retirement group Phoenix was also putting in decent gains after lifting its interim dividend by 5% after smashing forecasts with cash generation in the first half.
GSK edged higher after the news that the US Food and Drug Administration has granted approval for its ‘Ojjaara’ drug for adults suffering from a difficult-to-treat blood cancer.
Oil giants BT and Shell were in demand as crude prices rose. Brent was up nearly 1% at $94.78 a barrel.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 799.00p 4.64%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,383.50p 3.48%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 223.10p 1.55%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,094.00p 1.50%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,816.00p 0.94%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,768.50p 0.71%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,719.00p 0.63%
Glencore (GLEN) 459.00p 0.57%
BT Group (BT.A) 117.55p 0.47%
Shell (SHEL) 2,592.00p 0.47%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
RS Group (RS1) 716.40p -3.71%
Entain (ENT) 1,114.50p -3.38%
WPP (WPP) 749.20p -3.03%
Rightmove (RMV) 545.00p -2.96%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 4,294.00p -2.89%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 576.00p -2.83%
Prudential (PRU) 915.40p -2.78%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 604.00p -2.49%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,105.00p -2.47%
SEGRO (SGRO) 721.00p -2.46%
