FTSE 100 movers: Miners under the cosh; Dechra boosted by upgrade

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 2.5% at 7,053.33 in afternoon trade on Tuesday. Miners were under the cosh as metals prices fell, with Anglo American, Glencoe and Antofagasta all lower. In particular, copper prices declined to a 17-month low.

Dechra Pharmaceuticals was the top gainer on the index after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to 'outperform' from 'sector perform', citing an attractive entry point. "We think Dechra is a well-run compound growth story, benefiting from strong market trends, resilience to recession and will remain active in M&A," it said.

The bank cut its price target on the shares to 4,200p from 5,300p as it updated its valuation given the recent decrease in peer multiples.

"However, DPH's shares have come down significantly relative to that of its other high quality peers, and we think current levels provide an attractive entry point for what we see as a defensive business with good organic growth and history of solid execution," it said, hence the upgrade.

Retailer Next was also in the black after Exane BNP Paribas upgraded the shares to 'outperform' from 'neutral' and lifted the price target to 7,100p from 7,000p.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,636.00p 5.88% SEGRO (SGRO) 976.20p 2.69% Croda International (CRDA) 6,730.00p 2.34% Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 10,300.00p 1.68% 3i Group (III) 1,097.50p 1.15% Halma (HLMA) 2,022.00p 0.85% Next (NXT) 6,142.00p 0.72% Diageo (DGE) 3,518.00p 0.66% Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 562.60p 0.54% Sage Group (SGE) 636.00p 0.44%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Anglo American (AAL) 2,598.50p -8.50% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 79.82p -7.77% Glencore (GLEN) 403.85p -7.11% Entain (ENT) 1,127.50p -7.01% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,031.50p -6.82% Harbour Energy (HBR) 328.00p -6.26% WPP (WPP) 757.80p -5.89% Shell (SHEL) 2,074.00p -5.86% BP (BP.) 379.05p -5.58% Mondi (MNDI) 1,402.00p -5.24%