FTSE 100 movers: Pearson plumped on FT sale, ARM bounces, Aberdeen drops

London's blue chip index bumped along just above parity for most of Thursday, as the bid talk for Pearson's iconic Financial Times newspaper and various company results announcements were the prime mover of prices.

As of 15:30, the FTSE 100 was trading just 0.06% lower at 6,663.02.

The City was abuzz with talk about possible buyers for Pearson's FT Group division, which publishes the Financial Times, which was eventually confirmed by Japan's Nikkei Group for £1.29bn in mid afternoon. Shares in the increasingly education-focused group were up 2.4% an hour before the close.

Bouncing back from its falls on Wednesday, microchip designer ARM led the risers. With its own quarterly results and those of its main customer Apple both missing expectations, Thursday's reflections were more sanguine, helped by positive broker recommendations from the likes of RBS and Credit Suisse being followed by a reiteration of its 'conviction list buy' from Goldman Sachs, which said the multiple de-rating was "unwarranted given strong full year trajectory", thought it trimmed its target price to 1,500p from 1,550p.

Although some analysts believed it is overpriced, Unilever laughed in the face of continuing consumer weakness around the globe, impressing investors with strong sales growth.

DIY retail chain Kingfisher, owner of B&Q and Screwfix in the UK as well as Castorama and Brico Depot in France, gave its shares a new lick of paint by nailing a solid rise in second-quarter sales.

Limiting the index's gains, were two financial sector powerhouses. Aberdeen Asset Management led the sector's retreat after revealing third-quarter net outflows had accelerated.

Fellow money manager Ashtead slumped after double downgrade by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Other fallers included energy company SSE, which posted first-quarter results that showed increased production in all of its divisions apart from coal. However, the company said it expects lower profits from its energy supply business this year but higher profit from its management and generation business.

Supermarket group Sainsbury's fell more than 3% on the day it launched an offering of £250m perpetual subordinated convertible bonds. The Office for National Statistics also released national retail sales numbers that included news that UK food sales fell 0.3% in June.

Drug company Shire was down 1.2% as investors mulled its missed second quarter growth forecasts but newly hiked full year earnings guidance.

Johnson Matthey was another faller after revealing first quarter profits had dipped.

FTSE 100 - Risers
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,001.00p +3.20%
Pearson (PSON) 1,236.00p +2.23%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,913.00p +1.89%
Kingfisher (KGF) 373.90p +1.88%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,168.00p +1.88%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 891.00p +1.83%
CRH (CRH) 1,907.00p +1.65%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 788.00p +1.55%
Meggitt (MGGT) 466.00p +1.48%
Fresnillo (FRES) 644.00p +1.42%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 370.80p -7.18%
SSE (SSE) 1,515.00p -4.54%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 263.40p -3.37%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 985.00p -2.18%
Glencore (GLEN) 224.70p -1.45%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,400.00p -1.19%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 984.50p -1.13%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,869.00p -1.07%
BP (BP.) 402.35p -1.05%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 529.50p -1.03%