FTSE 100 movers: Miners pace gains, Defensives drag

Miners such as Anglo American lent its weight to gains on the top-flight index following the release of a stronger-than-expected reading on first quarter Chinese gross domestic product growth.

China's National Bureau of Statistics announced overnight that GDP expanded at a year-on-year pace of 4.5%.

That was up from 2.9% over the last three months of 2022 and better than the 4.0% that the consensus had penciled in.

Economists's reactions to the latest growth figures were mixed with some talk of an uneven recovery or of storm clouds on the horizon, whilst others were more upbeat and some even raised their forecasts for full-year growth.

In any case, some analysts believed that Beijing would stock to its plans for infrastructure spending in light of the global headwinds to growth.

A much stronger-than-expected reading for Chinese retail sales in March alone meanwhile buoyed the likes of Burberry.

But it was shares of Entain that were topping the leaderboard as the Ladbrokes owner hailed a "strong" start to 2023 and posted a 15% jump in first-quarter net gaming revenue, amid record levels of active customers.

Going the other way, it was a mix of defensives that were taking it on the chin, including power groups Centrica and SSE, pharma outfit GSK, British American Tobacco or Vodafone.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Entain (ENT) 1,405.00p +7.62%

Anglo American (AAL) 2,796.50p +3.13%

Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 15,540.00p +3.02%

Fresnillo (FRES) 799.00p +2.94%

Prudential (PRU) 1,174.50p +2.58%

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 154.80p +2.52%

Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,186.00p +2.25%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 655.80p +2.15%

M&G (MNG) 199.90p +2.04%

Glencore (GLEN) 498.60p +1.96%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

GSK (GSK) 1,487.20p -1.63%

Unite Group (UTG) 937.00p -1.26%

Airtel Africa (AAF) 110.40p -1.25%

Compass Group (CPG) 2,050.00p -1.20%

Mondi (MNDI) 1,294.00p -1.18%

British Land Company (BLND) 392.00p -1.08%

Unilever (ULVR) 4,316.00p -0.94%

Diageo (DGE) 3,649.50p -0.94%

SSE (SSE) 1,808.50p -0.93%

Centrica (CNA) 113.50p -0.87%