FTSE 100 movers: Shire leads downside after Abbvie calls on shareholders to abandon takeover bid

16th Oct 2014 16:35

Shire, which dropped 22% on Wednesday after Abbvie said it was reconsidering its bid for the firm, was down by a further 8% after the US group advised shareholders vote against the takeover due to changes in the US tax law. Abbvie said that these changes had introduced "an unacceptable level of uncertainty" into the deal.Engineering group GKN got a lift from an upgrade out of Exane BNP Paribas to 'outperform' from 'neutral'.Banking peers RBS, Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and Standard Chartered were also weighing on the blue-chip index.British Sky Broadcasting Group failed to impress despite revealing that it had made a strong start to the year, with profits ahead of expectations in the first quarter as subscriptions surged.International distribution and outsourcing firm Bunzl climbed after it said third quarter revenue increased 6% year-on-year on a constant exchange rate basis as acquisitions came on stream.Spirits group Diageo was slightly higher after it expressed optimism that its full-year top line would still improve on last year and despite its sales falling in its first quarter.Airlines Easyjet and IAG were both higher as they reversed some of their recent heavy declines. A number of travel stocks have been hit by the worsening Ebola crisis in the past few weeks. The sharp drop in the oil price was likely also helping matters considerably.FTSE 100 - RisersInternational Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 343.60p +4.72%GKN (GKN) 298.80p +3.89%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 404.70p +3.85%Bunzl (BNZL) 1,576.00p +3.75%Ashtead Group (AHT) 922.50p +3.30%ITV (ITV) 199.80p +3.04%easyJet (EZJ) 1,393.00p +3.03%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 231.80p +2.84%ARM Holdings (ARM) 854.50p +2.83%Fresnillo (FRES) 816.00p +2.77%FTSE 100 - FallersShire Plc (SHP) 3,694.00p -7.93%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,058.00p -2.65%Aviva (AV.) 474.50p -2.51%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,150.00p -2.21%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 447.20p -2.19%Tullow Oil (TLW) 483.60p -2.14%Barclays (BARC) 207.95p -2.00%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 72.02p -1.99%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 335.70p -1.90%St James's Place (STJ) 648.00p -1.89%