FTSE 100 movers: Weir bounces on Blackrock buying, Kingfisher knocked off perch

The FTSE 100 eventually reversed its early losses and most of those from the previous day by a diverse array of companies, with the index up 0.7% to 6,129.2 around an hour before the session's close.

Weir was lifted to the top of the leader board apparently due to Blackrock calling a bottom in the shares, which are at a five-year low, increasing its holding above 5% via a CFD. On the back of its exposure to the slumping natural resources markets that are expected to flatten earnings, the engineer's share price has more than halved.

Michael van Dulken of Accendo Markets suggested a slowing of US production, fuelling a firming in oil prices, was helping revive the potential need for Weir's services.

Several oil stocks were boosted by a Liberum note that trumpeted the improved risk/reward at Big Oil as cuts to opex and capex support free cash flow prospects, with dividends remaining a priority. Analysts raised BG Group to 'buy' on the conviction that the Shell bid will go through, offering a low-risk 17% gain, and BP is also upgraded to 'buy' as the "worst case scenario of a dividend cut looks excessively discounted".

ARM Holdings built on Monday's Apple-fuelled rally after the microchip architect's management said at an analyst day that the company's smartphone royalty revenue would more than double by 2020.

Prudential was one of several Asia-focused financials to climb higher. The insurance company also announced a pair of reassuring senior appointments to its board, with Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, who is currently chairman of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, and insurance veteran David Law both taking non-executive directorships with immediate effect.

Commodities giant Glencore was assailed by further doubts about weakness in China, with shares tumbling to new record lows midway through the session, undoing the share price bounce from its recent debt restructuring proposals, before a late surge that took it into positive territory.

A big faller was retailer Kingfisher after the owner of B&Q, Screwfix and France's Castorama posted lower interim pre-tax profits and a cautious outlook about prospects in France. On the upside, profits were not quite as bad as feared thanks to strong UK growth and encouraging like-for-like sales, while chief executive Véronique Laury also revealed plans to accelerate the roll-out of an important new store IT system and increase the UK Screwfix estate by round a third.

Vodafone was wallowing almost 3% lower mid-session after reports that Liberty Global could walk away from a possible asset swap or merger after making little progress. Some analysts went to far as to call for CEO Vittorio Colao to step down.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,292.00p +4.36%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 980.00p +3.38%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 724.50p +3.01%
Prudential (PRU) 1,425.50p +2.96%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,014.50p +2.76%
Aviva (AV.) 474.60p +2.68%
Anglo American (AAL) 735.70p +2.62%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,377.00p +2.61%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 320.50p +2.59%
Barclays (BARC) 260.75p +2.46%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kingfisher (KGF) 350.80p -2.64%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 378.00p -1.12%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,205.00p -0.82%
Fresnillo (FRES) 587.50p -0.68%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 219.90p -0.61%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 418.20p -0.55%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 199.70p -0.50%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,380.00p -0.50%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 751.00p -0.46%
Tesco (TSCO) 177.70p -0.42%