FTSE 100 movers: Legal & General, IAG in the black
London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 8,340.12 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
Legal & General jumped to the top of the index as it maintained profit guidance for the full year and hinted at more returns for shareholders than previously announced.
The company said it expects to return to shareholders a proportion of the capital not deployed on strain this year which "would be incremental to the capital return intentions indicated at the Capital Markets Event in June".
The company said it was on track to hit its guidance for mid-single-digit growth in operating profit in 2024, up from the £1.67bn reported in 2023.
BA and Iberia owner IAG flew higher as JPMorgan Cazenove said it was the "most compelling" overweight in airlines and added the stock to its Analyst Focus List and put it on "positive catalyst watch".
JPM said this was driven by solid pricing, strong free cash flow leading to shareholder cash returns and a re-rating potential.
Spirax Sarco gained on the back of an upgrade to ‘overweight’ at Barclays.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 235.10p 5.47%
Vistry Group (VTY) 655.50p 4.38%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 274.00p 3.63%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,277.00p 2.45%
Spirax Group (SPX) 7,540.00p 2.17%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,200.00p 1.85%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 433.70p 1.81%
Beazley (BEZ) 802.00p 1.78%
Next (NXT) 10,285.00p 1.23%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 348.90p 1.22%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,508.00p -2.61%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,509.50p -2.39%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,752.00p -1.96%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,687.00p -1.47%
National Grid (NG.) 976.00p -1.41%
SSE (SSE) 1,726.00p -1.26%
Informa (INF) 847.80p -1.07%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,645.00p -1.04%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 986.40p -0.88%
Rightmove (RMV) 659.00p -0.78%