FTSE 100 movers: Rolls-Royce rallies on Citi note; retailers slump

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 10,739.27 in afternoon trade on Monday.

Rolls-Royce rallied as Citi hiked its price target on the stock to 1,647p from 1,101p as it "materially" upgraded its long-term profit and cash flow forecasts by 30- 40% following "very strong" first-half results.

"However, recent share price appreciation leaves insufficient upside to upgrade to buy, and we maintain our neutral rating," the bank said. Citi said the forecast changes are driven by improvements across all divisions, but most significantly in Power Systems.

"While we also increase Civil Aerospace forecasts, we believe the record H1 Defence margins are not sustainable.

"Our sensitivity analysis indicates Power Systems is now the most influential driver of value, surpassing Civil Aerospace."

Miners Anglo American, Glencore, Endeavour and Fresnillo also gained as metals prices rose.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: "Copper prices in particular are rising higher on expectations of constrained supply and resilient demand, given how sought after the metal is across multiple sectors from electrification to AI."

AstraZeneca was on the rise as the drugmaker discontinued a Phase III study for a cancer drug, while reporting strong survival rates from another.

On the downside, retailers Sainsbury's, Tesco and Marks & Spencer all fell.

Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said the weakness "reflected caution ahead of this week's retail sales and CPI data".

"Higher oil threatens disposable incomes and transport costs, while recent BRC data already showed retail sales growth slowing. Even defensive consumer names are struggling to attract broad support when investors are worried about margin pressure, volume softness and household budgets."