FTSE 100 movers: Aviva surges on bid spec; Rentokil retreats

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 7,487.42 in afternoon trade on Friday.

Aviva surged after markets blog Betaville suggested in one of its ‘uncooked’ alerts that the insurance group was at the centre of takeover talk.

Betaville said the identity of the company circling Aviva was unclear but noted that previous reports have pointed to German insurance group Allianz, French insurance giant Axa, Canada's Intact Financial Group and Scandinavian firm Tryg.

Legal & General and Prudential also rose.

Shell gained after the oil giant said its earnings from gas trading bounced back in the third quarter.

On the downside, Rentokil was under the cosh after an initiation at ‘sell’ by Societe Generale.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Aviva (AV.) 415.80p 7.08%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 216.20p 2.76%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 822.50p 2.11%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,674.50p 1.98%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 4,556.00p 1.79%
Prudential (PRU) 869.60p 1.68%
Shell (SHEL) 2,575.00p 1.68%
Halma (HLMA) 1,969.00p 1.60%
Next (NXT) 7,150.00p 1.53%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 425.00p 1.53%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Rentokil Initial (RTO) 581.80p -3.55%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,115.00p -3.11%
National Grid (NG.) 925.20p -2.36%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 206.60p -1.85%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,956.00p -1.85%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 74.77p -1.75%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,271.00p -1.60%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,730.00p -1.55%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 13,085.00p -1.47%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 919.60p -1.46%