FTSE 100 movers: Glencore's reported Libya deal sends shares soaring

Despite a quiet day news-wise on the markets, the FTSE 100 was up marginally by mid-afternoon Friday to 6,345.49 – a 15.56 point rise (0.25%).

Glencore surged on reports that it has agreed a deal to buy as much as half of the oil Libya currently exports as it looks to offset declining profits from mining. Reuters cited unnamed market sources as saying that as part of the agreement with Libya’s state-run National Oil Corp (NOC), which began in September, the commodities trader loads and finds buyers for all the Sarir and Messla crude oil exported from the Marsa el-Hariga port near the country’s eastern border with Egypt. It said that for war-torn, cash-strapped Libya, the deal offers steady sales to international buyers and shifts to Glencore the risks associated with loading oil and chartering vessels at ports where operations have become more unpredictable due to the conflict in the north African nation.

Miners Anglo American and Antofagasta also were in the green as metal prices were up midway through the London Metal Exchange session. Metals rose after a week of falls, which drove traders to the mining stocks.

Rounding out the top risers was BAE Systems after Investec upgraded the stock from 'sell' to 'buy’, as well as upgrading the target price from 410p to 530p. It came a day after the company announced it won an extension to its nuclear submarine deal from the UK Ministry of Defence, taking the value of the work on the Astute-class vessel to £1.3bn. Investec said that BAE stands to benefit from the UK’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) out next week, which will clear up the country’s defence and security priorities. “The UK Government’s “prosperity agenda” suggests the SDSR rhetoric may be more favourable to UK suppliers than previous reviews.”

One of the big fallers of the day was easyJet after Kepler Cheuvreux downgraded the stock from ‘hold’ to ‘reduce’ and chopped the price target to 1,450p from 1,697p. It noted the share price is currently at the same level at which it initiated coverage with a ‘hold’ on 3 March 2014. Since then, the company has delivered strong results and margin improvements, offset by news flow of increased competition in relevant markets. “We expect revenue/seat and operating margins to start to decrease as of 2016,” said Kepler, adding that EasyJet replaced Air France-KLM on its 'least preferred’ sector list.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 96.64p 2.75%
Anglo American (AAL) 461.15p 2.31%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 512.00p 2.20%
Old Mutual (OML) 206.50p 2.18%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 346.10p 2.12%
Sky (SKY) 1,123.00p 1.81%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 550.50p 1.76%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,552.00p 1.72%
CRH (CRH) 1,906.00p 1.65%
BAE Systems (BA.) 491.70p 1.57%