FTSE 100 movers: Fresnillo shines; Haleon hit by downgrade

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.7% at 9,208.11 in afternoon trade on Tuesday. Precious metals miner Fresnillo shone as gold prices hovered near $3,700 on a weaker dollar and mounting expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this week.

Equipment rental firm Ashtead was also in the black after an upgrade to 'outperform' at BNP Paribas Exane.

Haleon fell as Barclays downgraded shares of the GSK consumer health spinoff to 'equalweight' from 'overweight', saying questions marks remain over the US and there are "a few new clouds on the horizon".

The bank noted that the US accounts for 34% of sales and said it is seeing slower category growth and destocking.

"Haleon is overweight declining US drug stores," it said, adding that the US was the reason Haleon lowered its 2025 organic sales growth guidance to around 3.5%. Barclays said it still sees short-term risks.

"Haleon has a new US head but we move to the sidelines as we await the plan," it said.

Budget airline easyJet flew lower after a downgrade to 'neutral' from 'overweight' at JPMorgan.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 2,306.00p 5.01% Croda International (CRDA) 2,566.00p 1.95% Mondi (MNDI) 1,013.00p 1.67% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 93.64p 1.58% SEGRO (SGRO) 637.60p 1.11% Glencore (GLEN) 310.00p 1.03% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 321.00p 1.01% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,676.00p 0.96% Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,378.00p 0.86% Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,977.00p 0.79%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Haleon (HLN) 342.90p -3.87% WPP (WPP) 387.10p -2.62% easyJet (EZJ) 461.60p -2.41% Centrica (CNA) 163.15p -2.25% Prudential (PRU) 1,009.50p -1.99% St James's Place (STJ) 1,242.50p -1.93% Legal & General Group (LGEN) 238.80p -1.89% Barclays (BARC) 377.40p -1.88% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 527.80p -1.86% ICG (ICG) 2,250.00p -1.83%