London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 7,289.07 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Caterer Compass Group rallied after saying it was reinstating its dividend and that full-year pre-tax profits had more than doubled.
Building materials group CRH gained as it said it was on track to deliver “another record performance” for the full year.
Barratt Developments was a high riser after an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ at Berenberg.
The bank said: “The UK housebuilding sector just cannot seem to catch a break: despite a booming housing market, the sector has underperformed the UK market by 10% year-to-date.
“Demand remains high, pricing continues to offset costs, balance sheets are as strong as they have ever been, valuations are cheap and forecasts achievable, so we are confident that – despite rising rates – this underperformance will reverse.”
On the downside, safety equipment manufacturer Halma and online supermarket Ocado were the biggest losers.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Compass Group (CPG) 1,546.50p 5.03%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 3,811.00p 4.21%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 153.54p 3.65%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 705.20p 2.89%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,652.00p 2.48%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,989.00p 2.38%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,963.50p 2.00%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 445.60p 1.98%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,050.00p 1.97%
BP (BP.) 340.40p 1.79%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Halma (HLMA) 2,996.00p -4.43%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,820.50p -3.93%
BT Group (BT.A) 159.60p -3.10%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 15,950.00p -3.01%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,444.50p -2.89%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,373.00p -2.52%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,375.00p -2.31%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 11,115.00p -2.29%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,246.00p -2.08%
Experian (EXPN) 3,320.00p -1.98%
