FTSE 100 movers: BT tops the charts on pension news

23rd Mar 2012 13:53

BT was the top blue-chip performer after the telecoms titan said it will pay off its pension deficit within 10 years. The company announced that it has reached agreement with the trustees of the BT pension scheme that the funding deficit was £4.1bn at June 30th 2011, well down from the £9bn valuation recorded at December 31st 2008. Broker Jefferies said there is now no obstacle to BT "refreshing dividend guidance" when it issues its results on May 10th. "There's no change in BT's dividend guidance today, however CEO [Chief Executive Officer] Ian Livingston said shareholders can look forward to higher dividends and that the company will seek their views in the coming weeks," the US broker noted, adding that the agreement offers dividend upside to 14p for fiscal 2014. Last year, BT paid a total dividend of 7.60p.Fashion and homeware retailer Next was performing well, with Nomura providing an extra lift saying that the stock is a key holding in the retail sector. The firm reported full-year basic earnings per share of 253.9p for the year ended January 31st, slightly above Nomura's 248.1p estimate.Miners continued to be weighed down by yesterday's gloomy manufacturing data from China which fuelled demand concerns from the world's second-largest economy. Randgold Resources continues to be plagued by disruption concerns in Mali. Yesterday, shares sank as much as 15% on the back of reports of a military coup in Mali, the country where some of its main projects are located. While the firm has assured that operations are still running normally, the stock was hit by a downgrade from Citigroup this morning. Sector peers Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Evraz, Xstrata and ENRC were also out of favour. FTSE 100 - RisersBT Group (BT.A) 233.70p +6.13%Next (NXT) 2,991.00p +2.64%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 371.10p +1.53%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 305.80p +1.39%Kingfisher (KGF) 311.20p +1.24%ITV (ITV) 87.80p +1.15%Polymetal International (POLY) 951.50p +1.12%Tesco (TSCO) 335.00p +1.01%International Power (IPR) 373.10p +0.97%Whitbread (WTB) 1,765.00p +0.97%FTSE 100 - FallersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,470.00p -5.12%Wolseley (WOS) 2,425.00p -3.15%Evraz (EVR) 381.20p -1.98%Xstrata (XTA) 1,087.00p -1.81%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 131.30p -1.72%Glencore International (GLEN) 396.75p -1.67%CRH (CRH) 1,315.00p -1.65%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,519.00p -1.62%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 335.70p -1.61%Anglo American (AAL) 2,404.50p -1.54%NR