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FTSE 100 movers: Aggreko extends gains, pharmas fall

Tue, 20th Dec 2011 15:29

Temporary power supplier Aggreko was leading the gains on the FTSE 100 on Tuesday, as investors continue to celebrate yesterday's news that full-year profits should come in slightly ahead of previous guidance.Media stocks were also on the rise with advertising giant WPP among the best performers in the sector. Shares in Sir Martin Sorrell's firm were boosted higher after it announced that it had acquired a 49% stake in Chinese peer Nanjing Yindu Advertising and Commerco Co for an undisclosed sum. Sector peers ITV, BSkyB and Pearson were also higher.On the downside, pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline were the heavy fallers. AstraZeneca warned this morning that earnings will come in at the lower end of expectations after it took a $381.5m hit from failed drug tests. As a result of the impairments, the company's core earnings per share for the full-year are likely to come at the bottom end of forecasts.Meanwhile, Glaxo joined its peers in the red despite announcing that it is to return £242m to shareholders next year after the sale of its non-core Consumer Healthcare OTC brands in the US and Canada for £426m.Royal Bank of Scotland was falling, albeit by a lower rate than this morning, as investors digested yesterday's announcement that the government wants the bank to become a UK-focused institution with significantly reduced investment banking activities. In other news, RBS and private equity giant Blackstone Group are set to finalise a deal in which the bank will relinquish control of £1.4bn of distressed property loans to the American group, according to reports.However, Barclays was making gains and Lloyds was flat despite George Osborne also announcing yesterday that the government had backed the main proposals of the Vickers report to ring-fence retail and investment banking operations within the UK banking sector.Cruise operator Carnival was lower after income before tax slipped to $209m from $255m in the three months to end of November. Nevertheless, evenues rose from $3.5bn to $3.7bn while fourth quarter net revenue yields in constant dollars increased 1.5% compared to the prior year, in line with the September guidance of a rise of between 1.0% and 2.0% Defensives were being sold off on Tuesday afternoon, with British American Tobacco, Vodafone and National Grid among the heaviest fallers of the day.BCFTSE 100 - RisersAggreko (AGK) 1,939.00p +4.92%ITV (ITV) 63.60p +4.35%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,745.00p +3.85%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 883.00p +3.76%GKN (GKN) 176.50p +3.70%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,985.00p +3.49%Wolseley (WOS) 2,000.00p +3.36%Meggitt (MGGT) 348.10p +3.20%Old Mutual (OML) 129.60p +3.02%BAE Systems (BA.) 277.50p +2.93%FTSE 100 - FallersAstraZeneca (AZN) 2,883.50p -2.22%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,438.50p -0.79%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 19.28p -0.62%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,954.50p -0.61%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,170.00p -0.44%Vodafone Group (VOD) 173.75p -0.43%National Grid (NG.) 605.00p -0.41%Carnival (CCL) 2,128.00p -0.37%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,096.00p -0.36%Essar Energy (ESSR) 180.00p -0.28%

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