FTSE 100 movers: Sainsbury's breaks key technical level

Sainbury's was top of the leaderboard due to a technical move higher, according to City traders, in what was described as a "very squeezy" market where all top risers in Europe all have big short bases. The grocer's shares started the day's move higher after breaking a key technical level in early trading as the chart formed a golden cross pattern, with the 50-day simple moving average crossed above the 200-day.

Mexican precious metals producer Fresnillo was in demand after making an impressive start to 2015, with both silver and gold output up significantly higher than last year, putting the company on track to hit its annual targets.

Following on from a strong performance on Tuesday, mining stocks were mostly higher in anticipation of Chinese stimulus. Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Glencore were all making gains.

Meanwhile, Next was boosted by an upgrade from JPMorgan, whichlifted its rating on the fashion retailer to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’.

Telecoms retailer Dixons Carphones surged after reaching an agreement to sell The Phone House Deutschland to Drillisch AG, a leading mobile virtual network operator in Germany.

Business supplies distributor Bunzl fell after revealing that trading in the first quarter was in line with expectations. Organic revenues were up 2%, a slowdown from last year's 3%. Investec has lowered its rating on Bunzl from 'buy' to 'hold', saying that its sees "limited upside".

Shell continued to decline after Tuesday's downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' by analysts at Jeffries, in the wake of the acquisition of BG Group.

Risers
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 286.40p +4.15%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 667.00p +3.33%
CRH (CRH) 1,851.00p +2.66%
Next (NXT) 7,295.00p +2.60%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 204.00p +2.51%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 447.20p +2.45%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,029.00p +2.18%
Glencore (GLEN) 299.15p +1.98%
Fresnillo (FRES) 736.50p +1.94%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,232.00p +1.82%

Fallers
Bunzl (BNZL) 1,859.00p -2.67%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,167.00p -2.61%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 1,152.00p -1.45%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,148.00p -1.10%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,851.00p -1.07%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 589.50p -1.01%
Meggitt (MGGT) 563.50p -0.79%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,043.00p -0.79%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,228.00p -0.73%
Barclays (BARC) 260.25p -0.72%