FTSE 100 movers: Experian, St James's Place rally
London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 7,491.17 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
Experian jumped as the data services specialist and consumer credit ratings firm delivered a solid set of first-half results with all regions contributing positively to growth, and reiterated its guidance for the full year.
Analysts at Shore Capital said that after the recent warning from sector peer TransUnion, which last month reported weak quarterly figures and cut its full-year outlook, Experian's results "will come as a relief to many".
St James’s Place rallied after the wealth manager defended a decision not to cut share awards for top bosses last year despite a drop in its share price.
Anglo American was higher as JPMorgan Cazenove reiterated its ‘overweight’ rating on shares of the miner after it agreed to buy 77% of Teck Resources’ metallurgical coal business, Elk Valley Resources, for $6.93bn.
JPM said the acquisition underscores Anglo’s discount to peers and opportunity to crystallise value.
"For Anglo American, although this likely removes Glencore as a potentially interested party in AAL's Met Coal assets, it underscores our belief that further met coal M&A is likely if the steel sector views coking coal supply security as a critical long-term concern," the bank said.
"It also highlights a potential opportunity for AAL to crystallise value through further reducing its coal exposure (thermal coal exited in 2021)."
FTSE 100 - Risers
Experian (EXPN) 2,835.00p 5.74%
St James's Place (STJ) 698.40p 5.72%
Glencore (GLEN) 467.35p 3.86%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,208.50p 3.03%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 158.45p 2.96%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 763.40p 2.77%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 729.80p 2.70%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 2,866.00p 2.58%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,699.00p 2.29%
Prudential (PRU) 943.40p 2.14%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 536.60p -4.96%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 546.20p -2.08%
Pearson (PSON) 953.80p -1.10%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 266.00p -1.08%
Diploma (DPLM) 3,008.00p -1.05%
Tesco (TSCO) 275.90p -0.97%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 72.45p -0.90%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 4,868.00p -0.90%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,210.00p -0.72%
Unite Group (UTG) 996.00p -0.70%