FTSE 100 movers: Miners move up while airlines skydive

The FTSE 100 was up 41.13 points (0.65%) to 6,367.29 by mid-afternoon Wednesday.

Mining stocks, specifically Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton drove the market higher on the back of Morgan Stanley upgrading its stance on all three stocks.

The investment firm also lifted its view on the European metals and mining sector to ‘attractive’ from ‘in line’, which also boosted Antofagasta, Glencore and Fresnillo.

European airline stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, dragged lower by rising oil prices and a downgrade by Credit Suisse to ‘benchmark’ from ‘overweight’.

“We can see the close correlation between airlines and the oil price, with much of their recent outperformance resulting from the renewed weakness in the oil price,” said Credit Suisse, as it cut its stance on European airlines.

International Consolidated Airlines Group was the biggest casualty from that note as well as easyJet.

And Marks & Spencer was under pressure after JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’ and cut its price target to 550p from 600p.

The bank said it expects another quarter of negative like-for-like performance from M&S in General Merchandise and it’s also concerned that LFL growth in the food business is becoming harder to achieve.

Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 665.30p +10.11%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 589.50p +9.78%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,520.00p +8.90%

Glencore (GLEN) 125.15p +6.19%

Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 344.50p +5.29%

BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,112.00p +4.96%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 744.20p +4.22%

GKN (GKN) 290.10p +3.24%

Fresnillo (FRES) 693.50p +3.12%

Old Mutual (OML) 208.10p +2.87%

Fallers

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 561.00p -4.35%

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,162.00p -4.34%

Carnival (CCL) 3,298.00p -4.21%

easyJet (EZJ) 1,694.00p -3.75%

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,225.00p -3.39%

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 504.00p -2.98%

Sports Direct International (SPD) 754.50p -2.71%

Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,318.00p -2.64%

Whitbread (WTB) 4,649.00p -2.52%

Persimmon (PSN) 2,005.00p -2.15%