FTSE 100 movers: Airlines fly higher; JD Sports hit by downgrade

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 8,168.32 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.

BA and Iberia owner IAG and budget carrier easyJet were the top gainers on the index.

JD Sports was under the cosh after Barclays downgraded the shares to ‘underweight’, citing uncertainty around Nike’s most recent results and outlook.

3i Group was also in the red as Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to ‘equalweight’ from ‘overweight’ and cut the price target to 3,192p from 3,246p as it said the risk/reward is more balanced after a strong run.

The bank said 3i offers significant appeal, given the strong compounding characteristics at key asset Action. But with more than 10% upside to its price target after a strong sustained run - the shares are up 125% since start of 2023 - it is moving to ‘equalweight’.

Morgan Stanley noted that 3i's valuation is close to the historical peak of around 1.4x P/NAV based on March 2024 NAV.

It said gearing to capital market recovery and a re-acceleration at Action are key to upside.

The bank said it was trimming its NAV estimates by around 2% for FY25-27 following the AGM statement, which indicated modest moderation in Action like-for-like growth.

FTSE 100 - Risers

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 171.75p 4.53%
easyJet (EZJ) 460.40p 3.65%
Fresnillo (FRES) 571.00p 3.54%
Barclays (BARC) 217.45p 3.18%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,079.00p 3.03%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,325.00p 3.00%
Vistry Group (VTY) 1,221.00p 2.61%
Glencore (GLEN) 477.85p 2.49%
Prudential (PRU) 722.20p 2.41%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 867.40p 2.34%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 113.35p -3.61%
3i Group (III) 3,009.00p -1.18%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 435.10p -1.02%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,828.00p -0.92%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 4,221.00p -0.87%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 12,032.00p -0.45%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,134.00p -0.42%
Shell (SHEL) 2,860.00p -0.33%
Tesco (TSCO) 303.80p -0.20%
BP (BP.) 483.80p -0.19%