London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 7,543.03 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Reckitt Benckiser was a high riser for the second day running, having gained on Thursday after the consumer goods giant said it suffered an £804m annual operating loss caused by the sale of its Chinese infant formula business, but was upbeat about growth.
Standard Chartered was also in the black, having slumped a day earlier after the bank’s annual results missed estimates.
Online supermarket Ocado was the worst performer on the index a day after announcing that it and France’s Groupe Casino will develop logistics warehouses for French retailers as they signed a deal to extend their current partnership.
NatWest was weaker despite saying it swung to a full-year profit as it released more than £1.2bn in cash set aside for loan defaults during the Covid pandemic and said it expected to achieve a return on tangible equity “comfortably” above 10% in 2023.
The bank, majority owned by the UK taxpayer, posted a full-year attributable profit of £2.95bn compared with a £753m loss a year earlier. Fourth-quarter earnings came in at £434m against a loss of £109m in 2020, but lower than the £674m profit in the prior three months.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,382.00p 3.74%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 574.60p 2.97%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,409.00p 2.62%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,034.00p 2.01%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,940.50p 1.65%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,067.50p 1.62%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,294.00p 1.29%
SSE (SSE) 1,625.50p 1.25%
BT Group (BT.A) 197.50p 1.20%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 802.20p 1.16%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,300.00p -4.45%
Evraz (EVR) 292.40p -4.23%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,589.00p -3.75%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 10,650.00p -3.31%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,029.50p -2.79%
Entain (ENT) 1,656.50p -2.50%
NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 234.30p -2.50%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,814.00p -2.46%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,810.00p -2.22%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 493.10p -1.32%
