FTSE 100 movers: Prudential pushes higher; Ocado hit by downgrade
London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 7,752.92 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
3i Group rallied as it hailed a positive third quarter and said it was on track to deliver "another year of good growth".
Prudential rose as the insurer and investment manager said it had received approval from Macau to open a branch of its Hong Kong business there.
Equipment rental firm Ashtead gained after well-received results from US peer United Rentals.
Beazley traded up after JPMorgan Cazenove said it remains one of its favourite names in the space and placed the stock on ‘positive catalyst watch’ heading into full-year results in March.
Diageo fell even as the drinks company said it had made a good start to the current year, after interim sales fizzed.
Ocado was lower after RBC Capital Markets downgraded its stance on shares of the online supermarket to ‘underperform’ from ‘sector perform’ and slashed the price target to 560p from 800p.
"We continue to view Ocado's technology solutions as industry-leading; however on analysis of the group's cash flow potential, its mid-term targets appear ambitious," it said.
"Moreover, risk of additional financing, a likely slow recovery at Ocado Retail, downside risk to group estimates, a lower probability of further game-changing international deals and a relatively rich valuation lead us to downgrade the shares to underperform."
FTSE 100 - Risers
3i Group (III) 1,588.50p 8.80%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 886.80p 3.87%
Prudential (PRU) 1,380.00p 3.45%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,220.00p 3.33%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 52.51p 3.06%
Halma (HLMA) 2,154.00p 2.91%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 165.30p 2.89%
Beazley (BEZ) 662.00p 2.48%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 760.80p 2.42%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,575.00p 2.34%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Diageo (DGE) 3,504.00p -4.65%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 232.40p -2.60%
Glencore (GLEN) 548.60p -1.77%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 689.00p -1.15%
Centrica (CNA) 97.94p -1.07%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,909.50p -0.96%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,734.00p -0.70%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,041.50p -0.67%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,013.00p -0.64%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,035.00p -0.63%