FTSE 100 movers: Sky rallies but United Utilities hit by downgrade

London’s FTSE 100 was flat at 7,387.95 in afternoon trade on Friday.

Broadcaster Sky was the standout gainer following reports that Comcast and Verizon have approached 21st Century Fox to buy some of its assets.

British Land was on the rise again after better-than-expected half-year results on Thursday.

B&Q owner Kingfisher was lifted by an upgrade to ‘sector perform’ from ‘underperform’ at RBC Capital Markets.

“We think KGF is now better positioned versus the sector given a) A broadening France housing recovery b) Accelerated plans to improve French ecommerce and c) Its strong performing Screwfix and Poland businesses,” it said.

GKN was on the front foot, bouncing back from heavy losses in the previous session, when it said Kevin Cummings, who had been due to take over as CEO from Nigel Stein on 1 January, was leaving with immediate effect.

On the downside, United Utilities took a hit after HSBC downgraded the stock to ‘hold’ and cut the price target to 900p from 1,000p. Severn Trent and SSE also declined.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Sky (SKY) 933.50p 3.38%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 204.90p 3.22%
Kingfisher (KGF) 307.80p 2.57%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,290.00p 2.37%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,858.00p 1.96%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,754.00p 1.35%
Old Mutual (OML) 191.30p 1.32%
British Land Company (BLND) 625.50p 1.13%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 420.50p 0.98%
GKN (GKN) 298.80p 0.95%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

United Utilities Group (UU.) 793.00p -4.97%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 562.50p -2.77%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,090.00p -2.52%
SSE (SSE) 1,351.00p -2.03%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,671.50p -1.94%
Centrica (CNA) 163.30p -1.51%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 208.00p -1.33%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,178.00p -1.04%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,330.00p -1.04%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,735.00p -1.03%