London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 6,983.69 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Credit-checking firm Experian was the top gainer, having fallen on Wednesday despite saying it made a strong start to the current financial year and reporting a 14% increase in annual profit and fourth-quarter revenue growth at the top of guidance.
Tesco was in the red as it traded without entitlement to the dividend.
BT was also weaker after Berenberg downgraded the shares to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’. The bank noted that BT shares have materially re-rated since its upgrade note in August 2020.
“BT’s share price has increased 75% since then, outperforming the Stoxx Europe 600 Telecommunications Index (SXKP) by 50%,” it said.
“After a busy calendar H1 2021, with lots of events to cause the re-rating, we do not believe that there are as many positive catalysts to come. As such, we struggle to justify putting BT’s investment case ahead of others, in a sector that offers many ‘cheap’ stocks. We, therefore, recommend taking profits and downgrade to hold.”
FTSE 100 – Risers
Experian (EXPN) 2,674.00p 3.64%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,333.00p 3.09%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,318.00p 2.73%
Rightmove (RMV) 594.60p 2.73%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,251.00p 2.68%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 6,208.00p 2.61%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,782.00p 2.45%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 568.40p 2.41%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,150.00p 2.40%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 12,520.00p 2.37%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Fresnillo (FRES) 865.20p -2.83%
Tesco (TSCO) 225.65p -2.65%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,521.00p -2.41%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 101.40p -1.90%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 191.42p -1.60%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 169.75p -1.25%
Glencore (GLEN) 309.90p -1.24%
BT Group (BT.A) 170.40p -0.93%
BAE Systems (BA.) 515.40p -0.85%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 744.60p -0.80%
