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The Times & The Sunday Times
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MARKET UPDATE

Traders slake their thirst with Coca-Cola

Neil Johnston
The Times
Coca Cola has bought a majority stake in a bottling business
Coca Cola has bought a majority stake in a bottling business
REUTERS
Neil Johnston
The Times

The FTSE 100 failed to build on yesterday’s two-month high this morning as the top index fell 9.87 points in early trading to 7,034.09.

Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling led the early risers, with shares jumping 24p to £16.86 on the back of the news that the Coca Cola Company had bought a majority stake in an African bottling business from Ab inBev for $3.15 billion.

Rolls-Royce was making gains this morning, with shares up 4.5p to 680.25p, followed by Randgold Resources, which was up 40p to £56.75. A strengthening of the gold price helped Fresnillo shares edge up 10p to £11.00.

Also on the way up this morning was Ashtead, which gained 8p to reach £15.67, while shares in easyJet took off in early trading, rising 5p to £10.33. Royal Bank of Scotland looked set to make another day of gains as shares increased by 1.6p to 227.95p.

TUI AG, the owner of Thomson Holidays, based in Hanover, appeared to suffer from events in Germany, with shares falling 16p to £11.12. Capita was faring badly in early trading , dropping 7.2p to 491.5 as Goldman Sachs became the latest broker to downgrade the struggling outsourcer, reducing its target price from 771p to 595p.

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Hikma Pharmaceuticals was also down, dropping 26p to £17.92, while Carnival shook off some of yesterday’s gains, falling 75p to £40.71, to lead the losers board.

On the FTSE 250, there was more movement as shares in QinetiQ rose 11.4p to 260p, boosted by a £57.5 million deal to buy the defence unit of aeroplane parts maker Meggitt.

Shares in Shawbrook group were up 9p to 269.7p after RBC Capital upgraded the challenger bank to sector perform, from underperform, and lifted its target price by 70p to 280p.

At the other end of the mid-cap index, shares in Metro Bank fell 128p to £30.07, and Paysafe slumped by 10.4p to 350.55p.

In the all-share, Servelec Group was the top riser, jumping 25p to 275.5, boosted by the announcement that the technology and software company had been awarded a contract by a major gas supplier to provide services for a platform in the North Sea.