FTSE 100 movers: BAE rallies on defence spending news; Sage slumps
London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 6,354.44 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Miners Antofagasta and Glencore were both higher as copper prices rose.
BAE Systems rallied, boosted by news of a £16.5bn increase in defence spending.
Pearson was on the up after FIL lifted its stake in the education publisher, while Intertek was a high riser after an initiation at ‘buy’ by Stifel.
Hargreaves Lansdown was also in the black after Barclays said in a note that it was one of its favoured names in the investment platform sector.
Accounting software firm Sage slumped even after it lifted its dividend as it reported an 8.5% rise in organic recurring revenue rose to £1.6bn, driven by growth from existing and new customers, principally in North America and Northern Europe. Micro Focus also lost ground.
Smurfit Kappa was in the red after raising €660m in a share placing to accelerate its investments and capitalise on the trends towards e-commerce and sustainable packaging for products. The company said it had identified between €1.2-1.4bn of investment opportunities to boost the group's competitive advantage.
Speciality chemicals company Johnson Matthey was weaker after a downgrade to ‘reduce’ at AlphaValue.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,133.50p 3.33%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,570.50p 2.61%
BAE Systems (BA.) 521.00p 2.60%
Glencore (GLEN) 194.88p 2.33%
Pearson (PSON) 652.60p 2.13%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 818.60p 2.12%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 6,156.00p 2.06%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,498.00p 2.01%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,427.00p 1.97%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,247.80p 1.78%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Sage Group (SGE) 588.40p -13.45%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 3,124.00p -3.04%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,673.00p -2.73%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,344.00p -2.66%
BT Group (BT.A) 124.65p -2.62%
Halma (HLMA) 2,383.00p -1.65%
British Land Company (BLND) 472.30p -1.62%
Kingfisher (KGF) 286.90p -1.51%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,482.50p -1.50%
Tesco (TSCO) 232.60p -1.48%