FTSE 100 movers: Shell loses ground; Smiths Group rallies

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 1.2% at 6,152.12 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Shell was under pressure as it said it expects to take a $20bn to $27bn hit to second quarter pre-tax profits from impairments after revising its outlook for commodity prices and margin outlook amid the pandemic. BP was also on the back foot.

IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: "In a world of falling oil demand and a bigger push towards renewables, these energy titans increasingly look like creatures from another era, something which should give investors pause for thought.

"While neither Shell nor BP will be going anywhere soon, their importance as dividend payers will likely diminish relative to other sectors, and yield-hungry investors need to be prepared for this eventuality."

InterContinental Hotels was also in the red as it said revenue per available room fell 75% in the second quarter but that the trend was improving and 90% of its hotels were now open.

Going the other way, Smiths Group rallied as it said it would cut jobs as part of a plan to reduce costs by £70m as the engineering company reported a slowdown in business because of Covid-19. CMC Markets analyst David Madden said traders have welcomed "the proactive stance" the firm is taking.

Standard Life Aberdeen was up after saying that chief executive officer Keith Skeoch was stepping down, to be replaced by Stephen Bird, who was CEO of global consumer banking at Citigroup.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,403.00p 8.09%
Ferguson (FERG) 6,600.00p 2.07%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 821.00p 1.36%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 129.46p 1.30%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 268.80p 1.09%
National Grid (NG.) 987.20p 0.96%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,490.00p 0.94%
ITV (ITV) 74.38p 0.79%
M&G (MNG) 166.55p 0.76%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,549.00p 0.72%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,286.40p -3.99%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 222.20p -3.64%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,226.80p -3.46%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 3,523.00p -3.37%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,199.00p -3.04%
BP (BP.) 306.30p -2.73%
BAE Systems (BA.) 482.60p -2.64%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 113.50p -2.62%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,085.00p -2.57%
Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) 10,570.00p -2.31%