Market Reports

LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 8,328.92 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Mike Ashley's Frasers Group was in the red after saying it was launching a voluntary offer for all the shares in Norwegian sporting goods retailer XXL that it does not already own at 10 Norwegian kroner per share.

The offer values XXL at approximately NOK246.36m.

Frasers is currently the second largest shareholders in XXL with an interest of just under 26%.

Severn Trent and United Utilities were also under the cosh as Jefferies downgraded both to 'hold' saying the risk/reward looks more balanced at their current valuations.

It said Ofwat's Final Determinations should provide investors with visibility on UU's ability to achieve 6.2% real equity returns but that the company's balance sheet is tight.

Spirax was weaker after a downgrade to 'neutral' from 'overweight' at JPMorgan.

FTSE 100 - Risers

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 359.60p 2.13%
Vistry Group (VTY) 676.00p 1.73%
Schroders (SDR) 316.60p 1.67%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 72.76p 1.65%
Prudential (PRU) 666.20p 1.49%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 435.70p 1.44%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 234.60p 1.38%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 103.70p 1.27%
Rightmove (RMV) 672.60p 1.11%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 107.30p 1.04%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Frasers Group (FRAS) 645.50p -2.49%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,116.00p -2.19%
Spirax Group (SPX) 7,335.00p -2.13%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,685.00p -2.08%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,108.50p -1.82%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,848.00p -1.59%
Tesco (TSCO) 368.80p -1.52%
Next (NXT) 10,095.00p -1.32%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 392.30p -1.26%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,752.00p -1.08%