Vodafone Share News (VOD)

Mining group Randgold Resources was a top performer on Wednesday, carried on the back of a recovering gold price. J Sainsbury was also higher after coming in slightly ahead of expectations with a 1.1% first-quarter fall in like-for-like (LFL) retail sales, excluding fuel. Outgoing Chief Executive Justin King blamed the fall on lower food price inflation and reduced fuel prices for the group's second straight quarterly drop in sales.Analysts gave a positive reaction to the results early on - Shore Capital in particular had forecast LFL sales to fall as much as 1.5% in the first quarter.Friends Life Group climbed on the back of Barclays's decision to restate its 'buy' rating on the stock.Meanwhile, a number of stocks were trading lower today after going ex-dividend, including heavyweights Vodafone and Johnson Matthey.Airline groups IAG and easyJet were falling sharply after German peer Lufthansa plummeted in Frankfurt following the news that it would not hit profit guidance for the next two years.The cancellation of Emirates Airlines' major order for 70 new Airbus hit shares of engineer Rolls-Royce, whose order book is to reduce by 3.5% or £2.6bn as a result.Brewer SABMiller was lower as the stock pulled back after an M&A-inspired boost yesterday when it was reported that a merger with European peer Anheuser-Busch InBev could be on the cards.FTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,478.00p +1.61%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 334.60p +1.46%Friends Life Group Limited (FLG) 331.60p +1.01%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,513.00p +0.87%Anglo American (AAL) 1,464.50p +0.86%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 459.30p +0.79%Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,400.00p +0.79%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 195.90p +0.72%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 78.96p +0.65%Fresnillo (FRES) 792.00p +0.57%FTSE 100 - FallersVodafone Group (VOD) 199.90p -4.29%easyJet (EZJ) 1,540.00p -3.33%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 398.90p -3.32%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,305.00p -3.12%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,044.00p -2.97%SABMiller (SAB) 3,367.00p -2.69%Mondi (MNDI) 1,069.00p -2.55%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,219.00p -2.16%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,689.00p -1.52%Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,078.00p -1.46%NR