FTSE 100 movers: BAE and ex-dividend stocks provide a drag

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BAE Systems was trading with heavy losses on the news that it is buying Ball Corporation's aerospace business for $5.55bn in cash.

BAE said it would use a combination of new external debt and existing cash resources to buy Ball Aerospace, which makes spacecraft, mission payloads, optical systems, and antenna systems, serving the intelligence community, US Department of Defense, and civilian space agencies.

Despite the negative share-price reaction, analysts at Shore Capital said the acquisition “positions BAE in a fast growing segment of the defence market so that it can capitalise on the long-term uptick for defence products”.

A bunch of heavyweight stocks were trading ex-dividend, providing some downward pressure on markets, such as Abrdn, Schroders and Anglo American.

Nevertheless, gains by a whole host of financial and mining stocks were protecting the FTSE 100 from bigger losses, with Prudential, Rio Tinto, Standard Chartered and Glencore putting in a decent performance.

Insurers Aviva and Admiral were continuing to rise after impressing the market with their first-half results on Wednesday.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,649.50p 1.99%
Glencore (GLEN) 426.55p 1.68%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,087.50p 1.35%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 736.60p 1.10%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,380.00p 0.93%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 595.10p 0.90%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 42.43p 0.82%
Prudential (PRU) 988.00p 0.80%
Aviva (AV.) 385.90p 0.70%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,430.00p 0.70%