FTSE 100 movers: It's all about the broker notes

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to 6,839.33 in afternoon trade, with broker notes dominating the movers.

Barclays was the standout gainer after HSBC upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and lifted the price target to 190p from 150p saying the pending disposal of Barclays Africa will be positive for sentiment.

“The disposal of business held within the Non-Core businesses is a management priority for 2016, and the expectation is that negative income and expenses within Non-Core will be significantly lower in future years,” HSBC said.

Anglo American also benefited from an upgrade, as Barclays upped it to ‘equalweight’ from ‘underweight’ and lifted the price target to 845p from 550p on strong valuation support and solid earnings momentum, particularly from the recent rally in coking coal which leaves the balance sheet in a much better position than the bank had expected.

“Had it not been for our cautious outlook on the diamond and platinum group metals markets, and continued labour/political uncertainty in South Africa, we would have been more positive on the investment case,” Barclays said.

Imperial Brands was hit by a broker note, after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘outperform’ and cut the price target to 4,000p from 4,250p.

“A combination of a low take-out multiple, cheap debt and strengthening dollar means we estimate the Lorillard acquisition will have added 23% to earnings (and a similar increment in free cash flow) by the end of FY16.”

“However looking into FY17 the 'Lorillard story' will have largely run its course (with a risk that Winston/Kool's momentum slows as the impact of the price reset subsides) and we anticipate a significant headwind in the UK.”

Anglo-Dutch publisher RELX Group, formerly known as Reed Elsevier, was also under the cosh after Macquarie downgraded the stock to ‘underperform’.

The bank said it was difficult to improve operating performance further and the stock is already trading at a 20%-30% premium to its closest peers.

“We argue it is time for a transformational deal, but that will likely raise RELX’s risk profile,” it said.

Risers

Barclays (BARC) 171.45p 3.00%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 220.70p 2.79%
Anglo American (AAL) 878.60p 2.45%
Aviva (AV.) 447.50p 2.31%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 249.80p 2.17%
Kingfisher (KGF) 376.50p 2.09%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,704.00p 2.04%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 57.45p 1.79%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,660.00p 1.59%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,841.00p 1.57%

Fallers

Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,924.00p -2.07%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,191.00p -2.06%
BAE Systems (BA.) 534.00p -1.93%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,353.00p -1.89%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 927.00p -1.44%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 723.00p -1.36%
Relx plc (REL) 1,448.00p -1.36%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,061.00p -1.30%
National Grid (NG.) 1,059.50p -1.21%
Intu Properties (INTU) 287.80p -1.17%