London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 7,040.80 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Software group Sage was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs.
Going the other way, Smiths Group rallied after it said full-year headline operating profit from continuing operations rose 14% to £372m as revenue fell 6% to £2.41bn. On an underlying basis profit rose 7% and revenue fell 2% with revenue growing in the final quarter of the year to the end of July.
The company also confirmed a binding agreement to sell its medical devices unit to US-based ICU Medical for $2.7bn and said more than half of the net proceeds will be returned to shareholders in the form of share buybacks.
Shell and BP shares gushed higher as Brent crude topped $80 a barrel for the first time in three years amid supply concerns.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,419.50p 4.07%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ (RDSA) 1,656.60p 3.69%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) 1,645.80p 3.18%
BP (BP.) 340.50p 2.78%
Glencore (GLEN) 344.35p 2.32%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,010.00p 1.13%
BT Group (BT.A) 163.85p 0.77%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,411.50p 0.71%
Diageo (DGE) 3,521.50p 0.67%
Avast (AVST) 571.80p 0.67%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,641.00p -5.89%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 2,010.00p -4.83%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 158.50p -4.26%
Sage Group (SGE) 710.00p -4.16%
Admiral Group (ADM) 3,170.00p -3.76%
Halma (HLMA) 2,820.00p -3.36%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 1,041.00p -3.30%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,505.00p -3.24%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,689.00p -3.13%
Rightmove (RMV) 671.40p -3.12%
