London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 7,507.12 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Imperial Brands was the top performer on the index as it reported lower operating profit after accounting for its exit from Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine, but said it was on track to meet full-year guidance.
Unilever was weaker after a double downgrade to ‘sell’ at Societe Generale.
Next was on the back foot after Credit Suisse slashed its price target on the shares to 6,450p from 8,025p as it argued that the stock was higher risk than it looks.
Following the retailer’s first-quarter results, the bank cut its FY sales growth estimate from 7% to 6.5% and its pre-tax profit estimate from £866m to £830m, versus guidance of £830m.
It said that given better weather in March/April, Q1 sales were “marginally disappointing”.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,838.00p 7.33%
Prudential (PRU) 1,023.50p 6.00%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 914.40p 4.74%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,504.50p 4.66%
Fresnillo (FRES) 791.80p 4.62%
Glencore (GLEN) 498.70p 4.55%
Royal Mail (RMG) 348.50p 4.06%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,435.50p 3.83%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 126.56p 3.82%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,494.00p 3.57%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Tesco (TSCO) 277.60p -3.17%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,651.50p -2.17%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,294.00p -2.05%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 240.10p -1.84%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 799.20p -1.55%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,777.20p -1.18%
Next (NXT) 6,464.00p -1.01%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,284.00p -0.77%
Diageo (DGE) 3,841.00p -0.67%
National Grid (NG.) 1,222.00p -0.53%
