FTSE 100 movers: Melrose rallies; Fresnillo loses its shine

London's FTSE 100 was up 1.2% at 7,512.43 in afternoon trade on Monday as investors cheered a Sino-US trade truce over the weekend and as weak UK manufacturing data dented sterling.

Melrose Industries was among the top gainers as RBC Capital Markets highlighted the stock as one of its top picks in a note entitled 'European Equity Large Cap Best Ideas'.

Among other things, it pointed to the company's "unique" business plan, which involves acquiring underperforming industrial businesses whose operational performance can be improved. It also pointed to a possible £5-6bn of asset disposals in the next 12 to 24 months, said end-market worries are overdone and cited management's "excellent" track record.

Shares of advertising giant WPP rallied as it sold its minority stake in sports, entertainment and communications company, Chime Group, the to the majority shareholder Providence for £54.4m. WPP will also potentially receive additional amounts based on the future value of Chime.

On the downside, precious metals miner Fresnillo was the worst performer as gold prices lost ground.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "Gold plummeted below the $1,400 an ounce level after the latest chapter in the US-China trade war saw a reset in trade talks. The yellow metal’s selloff was the worst in a year, but we should see global growth concerns and fresh stimulus bets from the largest central banks see buyers jump back in. A finalised trade deal is still far away and we could see talks collapse again in a couple months."

FTSE 100 - Risers

NMC Health (NMC) 2,510.00p 4.45%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,214.50p 4.07%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,475.00p 3.90%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,839.50p 3.29%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 186.60p 3.18%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 547.03p 3.12%
ITV (ITV) 111.35p 3.10%
Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) 6,104.00p 2.97%
CRH (CRH) 2,631.00p 2.69%
WPP (WPP) 1,015.50p 2.56%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 851.60p -2.14%
Next (NXT) 5,454.00p -1.30%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 471.20p -1.20%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 128.06p -0.97%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,154.00p -0.97%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,444.00p -0.77%
Just Eat (JE.) 620.20p -0.77%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 777.40p -0.69%
Informa (INF) 829.40p -0.67%
Diageo (DGE) 3,373.00p -0.33%