FTSE 100 Movers: Wolseley on the rise

Wolseley, a distributor of plumbing and heating products, hit the top spot after reporting that it has seen like-for-like revenue growth of 5% in the three months to the end of October, compared to the same period of 2010.Total revenues were £3,641m. On a like-for-like basis Wolseley's biggest market, the USA, was 10% up on the equivalent quarter of 2010 with revenues of £1,531m and a trading profit of £99m, a rise of 24% on 2010. Shire was heading higher after Goldman Sachs reiterated its buy rating on the stock. Meanwhile, Meggitt dropped lower after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to underperform from outperform and cut its target to 330p from 410p. A less-than-favourable description of mining giant Vedanta in today's Financial Times may offer a useful explanation as to why it is one of the morning's biggest fallers. The FT described the stock as "a ragbag of assets, funded by a lot of debt and not a lot of their own equity," in its explanation of why the firm has continued its "dogged pursuit" of oil firm Cairn India. United Utilities and International Power were also falling. Defensive stocks, such as utilities, sought by investors in times of economic instability may have become less in demand following a reaffirmation from France and Germany's leaders that they are committed to reforming the Eurozone. Fresnillo followed suit despite saying that it will pay a second interim dividend of $300m after the firm's cash pile was boosted by metal prices in 2011. The pay out, equivalent to 41.85c per share, will be made on 30 December 2011 to shareholders on the register on 16 December. Retailers were also performing badly on news that consumers are keeping "a tight rein on their spending, despite Christmas being so near". According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) total sales were up 0.7%, against a 2.8% increase in November 2010. Marks & Spencer and Next were both two of the biggest fallers. FTSE 100 - RisersWolseley (WOS) 1,980.00p +4.05%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 27.63p +2.33%Sage Group (SGE) 294.00p +2.30%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 726.50p +1.75%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,423.50p +1.71%Aggreko (AGK) 1,900.00p +1.44%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,142.00p +1.42%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,060.00p +1.23%Rexam (REX) 352.80p +1.20%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 23.04p +1.19%FTSE 100 - FallersAdmiral Group (ADM) 889.50p -4.10%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,079.00p -2.88%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 319.70p -2.83%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,712.00p -2.56%Next (NXT) 2,593.00p -2.52%IMI (IMI) 775.00p -2.45%Meggitt (MGGT) 375.30p -2.14%United Utilities Group (UU.) 602.50p -2.11%GKN (GKN) 190.80p -2.00%International Power (IPR) 327.60p -1.97%NR