Meggitt falls as takeover speculation cools "We expect Meggitt will achieve £391m, but we are not convinced they will beat it convincingly and do not expect material upgrades to 2013," the analysts said today. After jumping 1.1pc on Friday, the FTSE 100 dropped 100.4 points - 1.6pc - to 6,246.84, its biggest fall since November 7, on mounting concern over political stability in Spain and Italy. Corruption allegations have led to calls for Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy to resign, while investors were also unnerved by the growing popularity former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is enjoying in the polls ahead of the election later this month. As a result, yields on closely watched Spanish and Italian sovereign bond yields rose and stock markets across Europe and in America lost ground. Traders in London took the opportunity to take profits in the wake of the strongest January performance for the FTSE 100 since 1989. Among the fallers, speciality chemicals group and platinum refiner Johnson Matthey was on the back foot and closed down 83p to £22.43. Last month South African platinum miner Amplats unveiled plans to cut output by nearly a fifth, and Deustche Bank today said Johnson Matthey's marketing contract with the precious metal producer is unlikely to be renewed. The broker argued that if the contract is taken out of the equation, earnings per share would fall by 2pc in 2013-14, and 8pc in 2014-15. Citigroup, which cut the company to "neutral" from "buy," also saw growing competition for Johnson Matthey's fine chemicals business and said the wider headwinds facing the group would hinder earnings growth in the next 12 months. Vodafone, due to release a trading update on Thursday, was under pressure, hurt by a bout of profit-taking that saw the shares fall 2.95 to 170½p. Analysts at Citi noted the stock has returned 11pc so far in 2013, and cut their recommendation to "neutral" from "buy." The mobile telecoms giant has been lifted recently by speculation that Verizon Communications could buy the British company out of its 45pc stake in their joint venture, or may even attempt a full merger with Vodafone. Experts at UBS were also running the slide rule over Vodafone, and argued that the UK company selling 10pc of the Verizon Wireless joint venture was the most plausible scenario. With a gain of 190p to £62.75 Randgold Resources enjoyed the biggest gain of the seven blue-chip companies that ended the day in positive territory. Investors were cheered by the gold miner's 2012 results that showed a 16pc rise in full-year profits to $511m (£324m), while the West Africa-focused company also boosted its dividend by 25pc to 50 cents a share. Pharmaceutical group Shire was 18p healthier at £21.53 on reaching an agreement with the US government, announced after trading finished on Friday, that resolved an investigation into the marketing of its Adderall, Daytrana and Vyvanse drugs. JPMorgan Cazenove said the agreement "removes a significant overhang on the stock," adding the $57.5m charge Shire has taken is far below the $500m some investors had feared. Meanwhile, Burberry put on 10p to £13.97 on positive sentiment towards luxury goods after encouraging results from Swatch, owner of the prestige Omega and Breguet brands. Blue-chip broadcaster ITV benefited from positive broker comment from Credit Suisse and fell less than the wider market, edging down just 0.2 to 117.3p. Experts at the bank said television advertising growth may be at least 1.7pc this year and raised their share price target to 125p from 110p. They have an "outperform" rating on the stock. On the mid-cap FTSE 250 - down 98.74 points at 13,177.02 - an oil discovery off the coast of Indonesia by exploration group Salamander Energy saw the shares leap 22 - 11.8pc - to 208p. The south-east Asia-focused company said that the find had a flow rate of 6,000 barrels of light oil and 8m cubic feet of gas a day, although Salamander added that the gas discovery was not likely to be commercial on a standalone basis. Gold producer Centamin, which is appealing a ruling that its right to dig at the Sukari mine in Egypt is invalid, advanced 3¾ - or 6pc - to 64.15p. Traders optimistic about a positive outcome sent the shares higher ahead of a court hearing on the appeal on Wednesday. Finally, Africa and Kurdistan-focused oil and gas explorer Afren was on the rise and added 2.1 to 156.1p. Reports have suggested the company may sell assets, with Sinopec named as one potential suitor, and Afren gained today on news that the Chinese company is raising HK$24bn (£2bn) from a share placing.