FTSE 100 movers: China boosts market led by miners

The FTSE 100 looked to finish the week on a high, up 80.59 points (1.26%) to 6,456.87 by mid-afternoon Friday and hitting its highest point in over two months.

Miners Glencore led the risers, with Fresnillo also featuring in the top 10.

It came as the People's Bank of China announced it will cut its one-year deposit rate and one-year lending rate by 25 basis points each to 1.5% and 4.35%, respectively, as it looks to bolster the slowing economy.

The rate cut in China, one of the world’s biggest metal consumers, is the sixth since November last year as authorities there strive to prop up the flagging economy.

Travis Perkins rebounded after it said on Thursday that its full-year earnings are likely to be at the lower end of market expectations due to weakness in the repair, maintenance and improvement market.

On Friday, Citigroup upgraded the stock to buy after a relatively weak share price performance.

“The stock is down 17% since our downgrade on valuation in August this year and the valuation now looks less stretched on a 2016 PE of 13.3 times and EV/EBITDA of 9.2 times,” the note said about the building materials group.

“We believe the group’s strategy to modernize its business and strengthen its leadership position should bring more structural gains over the medium term.”

Of the fallers the most notable one was Pearson, dropping nearly 5% after being downgraded from outperform to neutral and cutting the price target to 1,000p by Exane BNP Paribas.

The bank said its investment case on Pearson was predicated on three main ideas: that cyclical headwinds would abate from 2015; that the transformation of the group towards digital and emerging markets would accelerate top line growth; and operating efficiency gains would drive margin expansion.

“We were wrong,” said Exane.

“We concede that it will take the group much longer to see the benefits of the hoped-for cyclical and structural turnaround. We also believe that capital allocation issues are likely to further put pressure on the shares in the near term. We do not see significant upside in the share in the short term.”

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 123.80p 5.72%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,931.00p 4.66%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 353.20p 4.62%
Fresnillo (FRES) 762.50p 4.45%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 697.00p 4.03%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,350.00p 3.93%
WPP (WPP) 1,471.00p 3.66%
Schroders (SDR) 2,949.00p 3.40%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,590.00p 3.26%
CRH (CRH) 1,840.00p 3.20%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Pearson (PSON) 905.00p -4.74%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,257.00p -0.84%
BG Group (BG.) 1,074.50p -0.69%
Sage Group (SGE) 539.00p -0.65%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,797.00p -0.33%
British Land Company (BLND) 868.50p -0.12%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 978.00p -0.10%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 990.50p -0.10%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,214.00p -0.08%
Royal Mail (RMG) 445.50p -0.02%