Top movers following Budget speech

Indeed, while most of the Budget speech was somewhat as expected, certain elements of the announcement have certainly been enough to move a few stocks.

A few notable moves in brief.

UK-based asset manager Hargreaves Lansdown is currently the top performer on the FTSE 100 (up around 5% at time of writing), following the Budget speech from Mr Osborne. That’s to do with the changes to Individual Savings Accounts (ISA), which certainly bodes well for asset managers.

In addition to plans to “simplify” its structure by merging cash and shares ISAs, Mr Osborne outlined intentions to increase the savings limit to £15,000 from July.

Meanwhile, among the pack of current worst performers is British insurer Legal & General (down 13% at time of writing). Again that’s to do with the latest budget speech – Mr Osborne’s announcement to make changes to pension savings is taking its toll.

The plan, Mr Osborne said, is to eliminate the requirement to buy annuities at retirement

That means that when that time comes, individuals can potentially cash out and, thanks to the supplementary change, only have to fork out a marginal tax rate. The possible implications of this amendment go without saying.

So, it’s no surprise that other players in the sector, including Resolution, have also been hit hard by this. Resolution is currently down 11.6%, that’s in addition to Aviva (down 7.5%), Standard Life, which is down some 4%, Prudential (down 2%), and Just Retirement Group (down 1%), all on the back of those planned changes.

On the fixed odds betting machines tax increase front

William Hill is down almost 9% following Mr Osborne’s announcement to raise the figure to 25%. Fellow betting company Ladbrokes is also down (currently 13%) on the back of that news, that’s in addition to Paddy Power (down around 3%).

Of course, all of this is just a quick reaction to the speech by investors and – it’s unlikely to be long-lasting – until any effect of the changes on these companies’ sales and margins are quantified.

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