FTSE 100 movers: Vodafone surges on continued merger speculation, miners higher

UK stocks were buoyed on Friday by higher commodity prices and data revealing the US had remained in deflation last month.

Sector-wise gains made by miners, engineers and telecoms stocks outweighed weakness in technology and travel stocks.
At 14:00 BST, the FTSE 100 was trading 37 points higher at 7,051.

Vodafone's stock continued its surge this week as speculation continues about a merger or partial take over by Liberty Global. Positive comments from the likes of Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank about Vodafone's recent results were also seen helping the shares on Friday.

HSBC rose after confirming rumours that it is looking at a possible disposal of its Brazilian operations, though it has not yet made a decision. Recent reports suggested that Banco Santander's Brazilian unit could be a potential buyer.

Mining stocks were snapped up, with Anglo American, Randgold Resources, BHP Billiton and Fresnillo all on the rise as metal prices advanced. BHP was also boosted as Investec upgraded its rating to 'hold'.

Utility company Severn Trent was in the red as it posted a 53.5% drop in full-year pre-tax profit, pointing to a fair value loss on financial instruments, largely due to lower expectations for future interest rates and an exceptional tax credit in the previous year.

Shares of building materials peers Wolseley and Travis Perkins were on the rise after Jefferies upgraded all both stocks by two notches from 'underperform' to 'buy'.

United Utilities reversed Thursday's gains, which came as the company posted a rise in underlying profit and revenue for the year ended 31 March.

Risers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 252.10p +3.96%
Fresnillo (FRES) 780.50p +2.56%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,082.00p +2.17%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,433.50p +2.06%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,800.00p +1.85%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,950.00p +1.77%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 468.40p +1.50%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,915.00p +1.44%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 2,206.00p +1.38%
Royal Mail (RMG) 506.50p +1.30%

Fallers
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 544.00p -1.81%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,155.00p -1.24%
BT Group (BT.A) 453.70p -1.19%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,591.00p -1.18%
Pearson (PSON) 1,332.00p -0.75%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,134.00p -0.53%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,001.00p -0.50%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,198.00p -0.50%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,012.00p -0.45%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,464.00p -0.41%