FTSE 100 Competition Results week 3
Good for Rolls Royce backers, not so good for mining shares
On Monday morning the FTSE started on 8004.36 and finished the week 126 points lower at 7,878.66.
The FTSE 100 was hampered by the likes of several big companies going ex-dividend, including GSK, AstraZeneca, Unilever, and Standard Chartered. That deterred new investors from cashing in.
Rolls Royce were the star performers of the week with a 21% gain but mining shares were the big story with a rollercoaster of a week initially rising on the back of firmer metals prices, with iron ore, copper and aluminium prices getting a tailwind from optimism over a reopening of the Chinese economy and a pick-up in economic activity.
Then a bigger-than-expected drop in profits for BHP spilled over on to the shares of Anglo American and Glencore. Downward pressure on mining firms followed in the face of weaker commodity prices.
Mining firm Rio Tinto announced a cut to its shareholders’ dividend by more than half after a pullback in raw material prices caused pre-tax profits to dip by 40%.
On Thursday mining giants Chile-based Antofagasta were spectacular losers and their value dropped by more than 11% on the week.
There was a gloomier outlook for the UK economy, with new figures from the Centre for Retail Research showing that British retailers have slashed almost 15,000 jobs since the start of the year. Poor house-price figures put pressure on Persimmon, Barratt Developments and Rightmove, among others.
A rising pound also put pressure on the export-heavy FTSE 100, it reduces the value of the dollars that British multinationals make abroad.
On Thursday Rolls-Royce shares climbed by nearly a quarter after beating forecasts with its full-year profits and revealing transformation plans that are moving “at pace”.
The aviation engineer – which is known for its plane engines and no longer connected to the luxury car brand of the same name – soared to the top of the FTSE 100 after its shares jumped to a 14-month high.
21 of the FTSE 100 made gains this week but only a dozen by more than one percentage points.
The best performers this week were as follows:-
Rolls Royce Holdings +21%
Smith & Nephew +5.2%
M&G Group plc +4.9%
Frasers Group + 3.3%
BAE Systems +2.7%
HSBC Holdings +2.4%
The poorest performers this week were as follows:-
Anglo American -11.3%
Antofagasta-11.1%
International Consolidated Airlines -7.5%
Rio Tinto plc -7.1%
Prudential plc -6.9%
Smith (DS) -6.5%
In our competition just 18 of our entrants investments are now valued above their £50,000 starting point.
Movers this week, Lewis Grieve up 23 places and Zona Paton up 17 places and into the lead. Zona’s gain in the three weeks some £3,546. Robbeath remains in second and Neil Spriddle has moved up from fifth to third.
Of those losing places John Derby slipped 18 places and Lynsey Spriddle 16. At the foot of our table the bottom four are still the same but Comrie Colliery has hit rock bottom due entirely to its reliance on mining shares. Comrie Colliery now shows a loss of £4861.
Let’s see what happens next!
