FTSE 100 movers: Miners rally but airlines in the red
London’s FTSE 100 was up 1% at 8,002.99 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Precious metals miner Fresnillo shot to the top of the index as gold prices surged.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Gold has touched fresh record highs amid concerns about an escalation of conflict in the Middle East, while Brent Crude jumped above $91 a barrel."
Miners Glencore, Anglo American, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto all gained as copper prices advanced.
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey was boosted by an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan and an upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘sector perform’ at RBC Capital Markets.
BP gushed higher following a report that the United Arab Emirates' state-owned oil company recently considered buying the oil giant but the deliberations did not progress beyond preliminary discussions.
Reuters cited people familiar with the matter as saying that Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) ultimately decided BP would not be the right fit for its strategy. Political considerations also weighed on the potential move, one of the people said.
EasyJet and BA and Iberia owner IAG both flew lower.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 616.50p 6.57%
Glencore (GLEN) 484.05p 4.74%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,222.00p 4.64%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 135.90p 4.34%
SSE (SSE) 1,672.50p 3.98%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,300.00p 3.70%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 880.80p 3.36%
BP (BP.) 537.10p 3.29%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,400.00p 3.25%
Entain (ENT) 828.80p 2.80%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
easyJet (EZJ) 542.40p -1.45%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 120.90p -1.35%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 365.70p -1.19%
St James's Place (STJ) 424.60p -1.07%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 167.45p -0.98%
Sage Group (SGE) 1,193.00p -0.79%
RS Group (RS1) 722.00p -0.76%
Prudential (PRU) 711.20p -0.75%
M&G (MNG) 203.10p -0.49%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,828.00p -0.45%