FTSE 100 movers: CRH and Reckitt rise, while commodity stocks feel the pinch

Irish cement maker CRH jumped on Friday after news emerged it was leading the race to buy assets from rivals Holcim and Lafarge.

Both firms are offloading businesses to ensure their proposed merger is approved and CRH has reportedly bid as much as €6bn for the assets. The firm confirmed it is in discussions with both Lafarge and Holcim regarding the potential acquisition of "certain assets".

Associated British Foods rebounded strongly after falling on Thursday. The Primark owner was rising after a report from the Office for National Statistics showed that retail sales in the UK rose unexpectedly in December.

Reckitt Benckiser was among the highest risers on the FTSE 100, along with consumer staples peers Unilever, Imperial Tobacco and Coca-Cola HBC.

Commodities giant Glencore was the biggest faller after it was downgraded to 'underweight' from 'neutral' by analysts at JP Morgan. The broker cited credit rating pressure, which is likely to force cuts to dividends and could also reduce debt and earnings in marketing in the absence of commodity price rises.

Tullow Oil was the second biggest faller the day after the company announced that its its latest exploration well onshore Kenya, Epir 1 in Block 10BB, encountered oil and wet gas but could not yet be classified as discovery.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,073.00p +2.95%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,835.00p +2.57%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,853.00p +2.44%
CRH (CRH) 1,678.00p +2.38%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,525.00p +2.31%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 537.00p +2.29%
BT Group (BT.A) 430.00p +2.09%
TUI AG Reg Shs (Post- 16/12/14)(DI) (TUIJ) 1,171.00p +2.00%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,077.00p +1.89%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,113.00p +1.74%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Glencore (GLEN) 250.05p -5.57%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 368.20p -5.18%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 687.50p -4.38%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,110.00p -3.06%
BG Group (BG.) 885.70p -2.77%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,885.50p -2.73%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 378.10p -2.05%
Capita (CPI) 1,085.00p -1.90%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,669.00p -1.82%
Fresnillo (FRES) 898.50p -1.80%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Interserve (IRV) 521.00p +5.06%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 225.20p +4.45%
SSP Group (SSPG) 276.40p +4.30%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 427.60p +4.27%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 494.00p +4.22%
Henderson Group (HGG) 237.70p +4.07%
Greggs (GRG) 872.00p +3.69%
AO World (AO.) 283.10p +3.13%
Dignity (DTY) 1,855.00p +3.00%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 173.00p +2.98%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hunting (HTG) 458.20p -8.34%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 432.60p -7.88%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 67.45p -6.45%
Supergroup (SGP) 947.00p -5.30%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 198.30p -5.07%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 296.00p -4.52%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,050.00p -4.02%
NMC Health (NMC) 492.30p -3.09%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 800.00p -3.09%
Lonmin (LMI) 174.60p -2.78%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers

Electronic Data Processing (EDP) 70.50p +6.01%
Optos (OPTS) 259.75p +3.69%
Microgen (MCGN) 123.00p +1.23%
Gresham Computing (GHT) 83.50p +1.21%
Kofax Limited (DI) (KFX) 463.00p +0.93%
CML Microsystems (CML) 378.50p +0.93%
Innovation Group (TIG) 29.50p +0.85%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 88.50p +0.57%
E2V Technologies (E2V) 182.00p +0.55%
IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 205.75 +0.38%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers

Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 7.72p -3.74%
Filtronic (FTC) 26.50p -3.64%
Promethean World (PRW) 23.00p -2.65%
Sarossa (SARS) 1.62p -2.41%
Dialight (DIA) 714.50p -2.06%
RM (RM.) 156.00p -1.03%
NCC Group (NCC) 200.25p -0.87%
Ricardo (RCDO) 655.00p -0.53%
SDL (SDL) 439.00p -0.45%
Vectura Group (VEC) 150.00p -0.33%