FTSE 100 movers: Miners hit by dollar strength; Babcock surges
London's FTSE 100 was up just 0.1% to 7,260.35 in afternoon trade, held back by weakness in the mining sector.
Engineering support and outsourcing group Babcock rose after it said it was on course to meet full-year targets and that trading in the second half has continued to be in line with its expectations.
Engineer GKN rallied after it posted a 12% jump in full-year pre-tax profit as sales rose and the company expressed confidence over its prospects for 2017.
Croda International was a high riser after the specialty chemicals group said full-year pre-tax profit was boosted by the weak pound, rising to £288m from £275m the year before.
Marks & Spencer got a boost as Jefferies upgraded the retailer to 'buy' from 'underperform' and hiked the price target to 370p from 250p pointing to the company's strategy progress.
On the downside, heavily-weighted mining stocks took a hit as the dollar gained ground. BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Randgold Resources, Glencore and Anglo American were all in the red as a firmer dollar makes commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Anglo American was also weighed down by news that De Beers, in which it holds a majority stake, saw diamond sales drop in its second sales cycle of 2017.
The business generated sales of $545m, down from $729m in the first cycle and $617m in the second cycle of 2016.
St James's Place was under the cosh. Although the wealth management group hiked its total dividend by 18% as it reported a strong rise in net asset value for 2016, investors were left disappointed by news that chief executive David Bellamy is set to retire at the end of the year.
Insurer Aviva dropped after saying it expects to take an exceptional charge to its 2016 IFRS profit after tax of around £385m as a result of the government's cut to the discount rate on personal injury damages payouts.
Old Mutual was also on the back foot after it posted results for 54%-owned South African banking subsidiary Nedbank and said its wealth management arm has struck a deal to acquire Manchester-based financial adviser network Caerus Capital Group.
Risers
Babcock International Group (BAB) 943.00p 6.55%
GKN (GKN) 358.50p 4.52%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,461.00p 3.47%
Pearson (PSON) 681.50p 3.34%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 783.00p 1.95%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 335.40p 1.95%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,151.00p 1.94%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 534.00p 1.91%
BAE Systems (BA.) 629.50p 1.86%
Informa (INF) 673.00p 1.66%
Fallers
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,291.50p -2.57%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,062.00p -2.39%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,279.00p -1.84%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,490.00p -1.83%
Glencore (GLEN) 320.25p -1.67%
Aviva (AV.) 494.70p -1.36%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,050.00p -1.29%
Old Mutual (OML) 217.40p -1.05%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 68.48p -1.04%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,256.00p -0.99%