London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 7,541.56 in afternoon trade on Friday as investors mulled over the latest US non-farm payrolls report.
Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser was the top gainer on the index as Barclays lifted its price target to 9,100p from 8,800p.
“We expect strong OTC growth this quarter driven by a) a strong flu season and b) an easy comp (-14% in 1Q21),” the bank said.
Elsewhere, retailer Next rose following losses in the previous session on the back of a note by Deutsche Bank and readacross from disappointing first-quarter results from H&M.
Miners Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Glencore were also on the front foot.
Electronic products supplier Electrocomponents was the worst performer, closely followed by caterer Compass.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,008.00p 3.02%
Anglo American (AAL) 4,077.50p 2.64%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,204.00p 2.02%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 151.15p 1.96%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,521.50p 1.92%
Next (NXT) 6,134.00p 1.69%
Glencore (GLEN) 508.40p 1.68%
Sage Group (SGE) 712.80p 1.65%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 126.86p 1.62%
Kingfisher (KGF) 259.20p 1.49%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Electrocomponents (ECM) 1,041.00p -3.97%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,594.50p -3.36%
Ferguson (FERG) 10,175.00p -1.97%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 991.00p -1.69%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 8,750.00p -1.46%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,032.00p -1.41%
Aviva (AV.) 445.80p -1.39%
St James’s Place (STJ) 1,430.00p -1.28%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,775.00p -1.20%
Prudential (PRU) 1,121.00p -1.15%
