London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 7,207.60 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Education publisher Pearson was the standout gainer after rating upgrades by Credit Suisse and Berenberg.
CS upped the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘underperform’ as it cut its price target to 680p from 750p following a share price correction after the first-half results. Meanwhile, Berenberg lifted its rating on the stock to ‘hold’ from ‘sell’.
Elsewhere, Hikma was boosted by an upgrade to ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
Precious metals miners Fresnillo and Polymetal both shone as gold prices rose.
On the downside, IAG flew lower after Berenberg downgraded the owner of British Airways and Iberia to hold’ from ‘buy’ and cut the price target to 200p from 230p as it argued that the Atlantic reopening was priced in.
Berenberg said IAG’s shares have benefited from positive sentiment over the past month as governments continue to ease restrictions and near-term equity dilution risk dissipates.
“Despite this, booking data is yet to confirm a strong recovery in the all-important corporate segment, while we think equity may still need to be raised next year,” it said.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Pearson (PSON) 632.80p 2.86%
Fresnillo (FRES) 885.00p 2.55%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,375.50p 2.38%
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 675.80p 1.99%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,537.50p 1.92%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,393.00p 1.92%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 606.40p 1.68%
Next (NXT) 8,054.00p 1.59%
Tesco (TSCO) 273.70p 1.56%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,421.00p 1.36%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 167.10p -4.91%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,599.00p -2.07%
Glencore (GLEN) 384.50p -2.03%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,399.00p -1.84%
Entain (ENT) 2,087.00p -1.74%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 140.40p -1.57%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,785.00p -1.39%
Schroders (SDR) 3,536.00p -1.12%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 370.20p -1.10%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,665.00p -0.97%
