London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.8% at 6,728.90 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Smiths Group pushed higher as it increased its interim dividend and said it was confident about meeting expectations for annual results after profit fell in the first half. Headline operating profit fell 11% to £166m in the six months to the end of January as revenue declined to £1.15bn from £1.24bn. The engineering company increased its interim dividend by 6% to 11.7p and said trading was improving in the second half.
Miners Glencore, Antofagasta, Anglo, Rio and BHP all gained as metals prices rose.
Engineering company Renishaw advanced after it upgraded its full-year guidance as it pointed to “good momentum” in the business. In a brief update for the year to 30 June 2021, the group highlighted “particularly strong” demand in the semiconductor capital equipment and consumer electronics markets.
Oil giants Shell and BP gushed higher as oil prices rose amid concerns that a ship blocking the Suez Canal could squeeze crude supplies.
Utilities were on the back foot, with National Grid and United Utilities both lower.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,552.00p 6.37%
Glencore (GLEN) 279.00p 3.78%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,676.00p 3.39%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,816.00p 3.30%
BP (BP.) 302.85p 3.12%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,495.00p 2.73%
Renishaw (RSW) 5,925.00p 2.60%
BHP Group (BHP) 2,070.00p 2.32%
Evraz (EVR) 546.20p 2.28%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) 1,381.20p 2.24%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
National Grid (NG.) 856.80p -1.86%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,868.00p -1.79%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,406.00p -1.37%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 903.00p -1.27%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,102.00p -1.25%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,338.00p -0.94%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,306.00p -0.86%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 485.80p -0.86%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 289.90p -0.85%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,610.00p -0.78%
