London’s FTSE 100 was down 1.1% at 7,110.79 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Housebuilder Persimmon and miner Rio Tinto were both weaker as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.
Anglo-Russian precious metals miner Polymetal was also in the red.
Going the other way, Spirax-Sarco was among the top gainers after the engineer predicted strong growth in 2022 as it reported a sharp rise in annual profit and increased its dividend. Adjusted operating profit rose 26% to £340.3m in the year to the end of December as revenue increased 13% to £1.34bn. Pre-tax profit was up 31% to £314.5m.
Evraz was also in the black. Shares in the Russian steelmaker were temporarily suspended from trading earlier in the day after Russian oligarch and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich – who also has a majority stake in the company – was hit by UK sanctions.
The London Stock Exchange said in a notice that the Financial Conduct Authority had suspended the shares as of 1100 GMT “in order to protect investors pending clarification of the impact of the UK sanctions”.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,585.50p 5.84%
Glencore (GLEN) 489.50p 4.13%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,745.00p 3.71%
Fresnillo (FRES) 762.80p 1.76%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 4,082.00p 1.49%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,982.00p 1.23%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,792.50p 1.04%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,094.00p 1.03%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,187.00p 1.02%
BAE Systems (BA.) 728.80p 0.86%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Evraz (EVR) 80.89p -12.59%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,123.00p -9.08%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 113.80p -8.26%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,468.00p -6.00%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 3,037.00p -5.42%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 544.00p -4.93%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,579.50p -4.36%
Polymetal International (POLY) 149.15p -4.21%
Diageo (DGE) 3,395.50p -4.14%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,716.00p -3.79%
