FTSE 100 movers: BP gushes higher on results; Segro dented by downgrade

London's FTSE 100 was up 2% at 7,176.66 in afternoon trade on Tuesday, underpinned by a weaker pound and solid results from BP.

BP was the standout gainer as the oil giant said profit in 2018 more than doubled to $12.7bn from $6.2bn the year before, beating consensus expectations of $11.9bn thanks to a strong performance across the business.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Global oil majors are performing strongly at present, but these numbers from BP are superlative.

"Given the complexity of the operation, BP has the ongoing challenge of keeping the overall engine purring. This has been done with some aplomb, and any number of the metrics have benefited not only from a generally higher oil price over the year, but also a streamlining of operations which has resulted in higher efficiency. This in turn means that the company estimates that it can continue to be comfortable with oil around $50 per barrel, although it has also run the slide rule over lower levels by way of contingency planning."

B&Q owner Kingfisher was on the front foot even as Goldman Sachs cut its price target on the 'neutral' rated stock to 260p from 270p and said weak like-for-like growth should weigh on earnings growth. In addition, GS said it expects limited free cash flow generation in FY19/20.

On the downside, property investment and development company Segro was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'hold' at Societe Generale.

FTSE 100 - Risers

BP (BP.) 544.20p 4.63%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,258.00p 4.54%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,626.00p 3.47%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,765.00p 3.15%
Kingfisher (KGF) 229.96p 2.84%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,856.00p 2.65%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,565.00p 2.37%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,074.00p 2.30%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,009.00p 2.29%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,300.50p 2.20%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

SEGRO (SGRO) 640.00p -1.08%
Fresnillo (FRES) 963.60p -0.78%
British Land Company (BLND) 568.20p -0.46%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,417.00p -0.21%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 827.40p -0.19%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 867.80p -0.14%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,439.00p -0.07%
Rightmove (RMV) 478.30p -0.05%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 57.80p -0.02%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 168.50p 0.06%