FTSE 100 movers: Oil majors gush higher; JD Sports retreats

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 8,292.56 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.

Asia-focused Prudential was the standout performer on the index, likely still boosted by the round of stimulus measures announced by China last week.

Shell and BP gushed higher as oil prices jumped on the back of escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Defence firm BAE Systems also gained.

Rio Tinto rallied after an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ at Berenberg, which lifted its price target to 6,200p from 5,600p.

"With a lower medium-term capital bill than BHP, and significantly less execution risk than Anglo American, we move Rio up to buy, and think that the shares will be the medium-term diversified winner versus peers," Berenberg said.

JD Sports slumped as it held annual guidance after delivering a 2% rise in half-year profit despite what it called a "volatile market".

The company reported profit before tax and adjusting items of £405.6m for the six months to 3August, compared with £398m a year earlier. Revenue jumped 5.2% to £5bn.

The JD share price decline was likely due to negative read-across from Nike, whose shares fell sharply after the sportswear retailer withdrew its annual revenue forecast and posted a 10% drop in first-quarter revenue.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Prudential (PRU) 717.20p 3.70%
Shell (SHEL) 2,538.00p 2.42%
BP (BP.) 409.50p 2.12%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,299.50p 2.04%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 794.00p 1.90%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 676.90p 1.84%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,376.00p 1.47%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,676.00p 1.44%
Glencore (GLEN) 434.55p 1.27%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,473.00p 1.23%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 143.00p -4.35%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,607.00p -3.09%
easyJet (EZJ) 486.20p -3.07%
Entain (ENT) 747.20p -3.01%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,036.00p -2.63%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 367.40p -2.57%
Kingfisher (KGF) 310.10p -2.36%
Vistry Group (VTY) 1,295.00p -2.26%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 191.00p -2.15%
Next (NXT) 9,708.00p -2.04%