FTSE 100 movers: Miners rally; Centrica hit by downgrade
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 7,449.48 in afternoon trade on Friday as investors welcomed progress in Sino-US trade talks and the release of a solid non-farm payrolls report for March.
Miners were among the top gainers, with Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta all higher.
On the downside, Vodafone retreated as it closed a $2bn hybrid securities offering, concluding €20bn of funding to acquire Liberty Global assets in Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.
Persimmon was on the back after the housebuilder said it was launching an independent review to gauge whether measures taken to improve its business have been effective.
The company said: "Persimmon is committed to listening carefully and changing rapidly as we seek to improve our reputation among the key stakeholders in the business.
"Our objective is clear: we must ensure that all our customers are provided with the care, service and high quality homes that they rightfully expect.
"An independent review is an important exercise which will establish whether the many changes we are making are going far enough and fast enough for the benefit of both our customers and our wider stakeholders in the business.”
British Gas owner Centrica was in the red after a downgrade to 'add' at AlphaValue and British Airway and Iberia parent IAG flew lower even as it reported a 5.1% rise in March traffic and an improvement in the load factor.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Prudential (PRU) 1,679.50p 2.63%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,525.50p 2.50%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,183.50p 2.15%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 922.60p 2.06%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,358.00p 1.85%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,668.00p 1.73%
Halma (HLMA) 1,780.50p 1.66%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 995.60p 1.55%
WPP (WPP) 865.40p 1.55%
Evraz (EVR) 647.60p 1.50%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 140.70p -2.60%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,766.00p -2.00%
Centrica (CNA) 110.10p -1.74%
BT Group (BT.A) 223.20p -1.67%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 615.80p -1.60%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,213.00p -1.47%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 517.00p -1.45%
British Land Company (BLND) 597.40p -1.35%
SSE (SSE) 1,152.75p -1.35%
Barclays (BARC) 162.80p -1.13%