London’s FTSE 100 was up 3.1% at 7,429.82 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Russian steelmaker Evraz jumped to the top of the index, having tumbled a day earlier amid worries about the impact of the Ukraine crisis. The company’s full-year results, released earlier, showed that net profit rose to $3.1bn from $858m.
Evraz also warned in the results that the “worsening situation related to Ukraine has further increased the economic uncertainty and the risk of the imposition of sanctions”.
Educational publisher Pearson gained after saying it will launch a £350mi share buyback and that demand for assessment and qualification services allowed to hit its 2021 targets.
Anglo-Russian precious metals miner Polymetal was in the black after heavy losses on Thursday.
Rightmove advanced after the online property portal posted a jump in full-year and sounded an upbeat note on the outlook.
SSE rose following a report it has lined up banks to lead the sale of minority stakes in two electricity networks as it seeks funds for its green spending drive. According to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter, the utility is working with Morgan Stanley and Rothschild & Co. on the disposals. The holdings in its transmission and distribution networks could be valued at more than £10bn.
On the downside, cybersecurity firm Avast fell despite saying it delivered “another strong year of top line organic growth”.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Evraz (EVR) 208.60p 21.81%
Pearson (PSON) 670.60p 11.77%
Polymetal International (POLY) 749.00p 9.76%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 555.00p 7.81%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,965.50p 7.20%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 49.69p 6.76%
St James’s Place (STJ) 1,425.50p 6.46%
WPP (WPP) 1,100.50p 6.43%
Rightmove (RMV) 654.40p 6.30%
SSE (SSE) 1,678.00p 5.93%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Fresnillo (FRES) 711.80p -0.56%
Meggitt (MGGT) 746.40p 0.19%
Avast (AVST) 624.20p 0.35%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,492.00p 0.46%
Glencore (GLEN) 425.05p 0.66%
Next (NXT) 6,800.00p 0.71%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,632.00p 1.03%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 155.10p 1.04%
Shell (SHEL) 1,975.20p 1.15%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,801.00p 1.17%
