FTSE 100 movers: Oil giants rally; Next hit by broker note

London’s FTSE 100 was flat at 7,497.79 in afternoon trade on Monday.

BP and Shell were among the top performers as oil prices surged in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Defence contractor BAE Systems also gained.

Caterer Compass Group was boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Jefferies.

BA and Iberia owner IAG was under the cosh amid a broader selloff in the travel sector, as investors fretted about the potential impact of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Speciality chemicals company Croda fell as it cut its full-year profit outlook following a weaker-than-expected third-quarter performance.

Next was also under pressure after JPMorgan Cazenove placed shares of the homeware and clothing retailer on ‘negative catalyst watch’ ahead of its next trading update.

JPM, which also put Primark owner AB Foods on negative catalyst watch, pointed to the last time the weather was this unfavourable, which was the fourth quarter of 2018.

"In a similar situation to that which we think could develop this year, the sector underperformance in late 2018 was exacerbated by concerns that weather-driven weakness could have been masking an underlying deterioration in consumer confidence," it said.

"We expect all of our clothing coverage to be impacted by the warm temperatures, but given the relative share price performance, we place Next and ABF (Primark) on Negative Catalyst Watch ahead of their updates on 1 Nov and 7 Nov, respectively."

FTSE 100 - Risers

BP (BP.) 523.40p 3.52%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,015.00p 3.51%
Shell (SHEL) 2,656.50p 2.91%
Fresnillo (FRES) 535.20p 2.25%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,702.50p 2.01%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,053.00p 1.84%
National Grid (NG.) 947.60p 1.28%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,796.00p 1.19%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,535.00p 1.19%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,511.00p 1.13%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 148.00p -5.34%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,598.00p -4.11%
Next (NXT) 6,952.00p -3.63%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 222.50p -3.43%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 9,154.00p -3.28%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 139.00p -2.90%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 554.60p -2.80%
IMI (IMI) 1,500.00p -2.79%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,249.00p -2.49%
Halma (HLMA) 1,937.50p -2.32%