FTSE 100 movers: Rolls-Royce rallies on earnings but Fresnillo loses its shine

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.9% to 7,438.93 in afternoon trade, underpinned by some well-received earnings.

Rolls-Royce was the standout gainer after it said first-half underlying profit rose nearly 150% as revenue edged up and the aerospace and defence giant reiterated its outlook for the full year. In the half to 30 June, underlying pre-tax profit was up 148% to £287m, on revenue of £6.9bn, up from £6.1bn. Free cash outflow, meanwhile, came in at £339m compared to £414 in the same period a year ago.

Testing services company Intertek racked up healthy gains after reporting a rise in first-half profit thanks to a strong performance from its non-oil related operations.

Direct Line was higher after it posted a 9.5% jump in first-half operating profit as gross written premiums rose 5% and the insurer bumped its dividend up by 39%. Operating profit came in at £354.2m from £323.6m the year before, with gross written premiums of £1.7bn compared to £1.6bn in the first half of 2016. Peer Admiral also rose.

Oil giant BP gushed higher as its second-quarter net income beat analysts’ expectations, while British American Tobacco reversed earlier losses after the Serious Fraud Office opened a formal investigation into possible historic misconduct by the company in Africa.

Centrica gained as it announced that British Gas will hike its electricity prices for households by a whopping 12.5% from mid-September, and said full-year adjusted earnings fell 11%.

On the downside, Fresnillo slid despite solid first-half results, with analysts at Shore Capital saying the company’s dividend was "relatively paltry", while Anglo American was in the red after a De Beers diamond sales update.

AstraZeneca was weaker despite saying that US regulators had awarded its blood cancer drug acalabrutinib "breakthrough" status for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma.

Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 971.00p 9.35%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,701.00p 9.30%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 396.10p 5.74%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 600.50p 3.89%
BP (BP.) 459.50p 3.07%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,127.00p 2.85%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,666.00p 2.27%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,820.50p 2.27%
Centrica (CNA) 202.90p 2.22%
G4S (GFS) 335.70p 2.10%

Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,502.00p -2.21%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,773.00p -1.32%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 731.00p -1.22%
ITV (ITV) 171.20p -1.04%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,243.50p -0.72%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,226.00p -0.62%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,238.00p -0.54%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,545.00p -0.53%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,025.00p -0.50%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 289.30p -0.45%