FTSE 100 movers: Miners rally as copper rises; Intertek tumbles
London's FTSE 100 was up 1% to 7,743.11 in afternoon trade on Tuesday, underpinned by strength in the mining sector.
Standard Life Aberdeen was the standout gainer despite saying that profits fell in the first half, as investors cheered the early start of a buyback programme.
Miners racked up strong gains as copper prices rose, with Anglo American, Glencore, BHP Billiton and Antofagasta all firmer.
AstraZeneca was on the front foot as BMO Capital Markets said that the chief financial officer's commentary during investor meetings last week suggested the company could be on the verge of the steepest growth trajectory in major biopharma. BMO said the CFO indicated revenue of around $40-41bn in 2023 was still a possibility.
BMO said AZN remains its top pick.
Going the other way, Intertek slumped even as it posted a rise in first half-profit thanks to a strong performance from its products divisions and hiked its dividend, as the shares had a strong run into the results.
Hargreaves Lansdown was also weaker as it rewarded shareholders with a bumper special dividend and said active clients for the year topped 1m, but annual numbers came in slightly short of expectations.
InterContinental Hotels Group was on the back foot despite posting a 9.7% jump in operating profit that topped the consensus estimate of $397.7m.
Ocado retreated as Barclays downgraded the stock to 'underweight' from 'equalweight', citing the share price rise to almost 1,100p. The bank hiked its price target to 875p from 265p but said this implies around 20% downside.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 324.30p 5.77%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,739.00p 3.64%
Glencore (GLEN) 324.90p 3.47%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,742.20p 3.27%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 967.00p 2.59%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 5,971.00p 2.58%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,021.50p 2.51%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,003.50p 2.34%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,173.00p 2.11%
WPP (WPP) 1,208.50p 2.11%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,418.00p -7.70%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 2,062.00p -2.64%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,628.00p -2.55%
Croda International (CRDA) 5,158.00p -1.38%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,070.00p -0.74%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 3,242.00p -0.61%
Royal Mail (RMG) 456.03p -0.56%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,965.50p -0.43%
Next (NXT) 5,688.00p -0.14%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 62.49p -0.12%