FTSE 100 movers: Prudential powers ahead but Paddy powers down
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.6% to 7,763.13 in afternoon trade on Wednesday as the pound slumped on Brexit woes.
Standard Life Aberdeen was up for the second day in a row after saying on Tuesday that it would accelerate its £1.75bn share buyback programme. It also posted a drop in net outflows and profit for the first half.
Prudential was a high riser as it said the planned split of its UK from its Asian and US businesses was "progressing well" in a half-year that saw profits hit by currency swings but still beat expectations to one-offs.
Boosted by good underlying growth in Asia and the US, group operating profits rose 2% to £2.4bn in the first six months of the year on an IFRS accounting basis, or up 9% if forex moves are excluded. This was 7% ahead of the average analyst forecast of £2.25bn, thanks to a £166m benefit from the one-off release of a UK provision.
Paddy Power Betfair was under the cosh as it lowered its guidance for full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to between £460m and £480m from between £470m and £490m, partly due to losses from the FanDuel daily fantasy sports business
Glencore was in the red as its adjusted earnings for the first half fell slightly short of analysts' expectations.
Smith & Nephew was a touch weaker as UBS downgraded the stock to 'neutral' from 'buy' and cut the price target to 1,340p from 1,470p. The bank said it now reckons its initial assumption of S&N's share of the market of surgical robots was too positive.
"We revised our survey and now see that respondents were less aware of, and less likely to purchase, Navio than we expected: only 4% of respondents cite robotics as a driver for S&N share gains. Given the upcoming launch from competitor Zimmer Biomet and no visible acceleration in S&N knee growth one year after launch, we downgrade to neutral."
FTSE 100 - Risers
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 329.60p 2.58%
Prudential (PRU) 1,800.50p 2.45%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,397.00p 2.09%
Carnival (CCL) 4,506.00p 1.85%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,214.00p 1.79%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,973.00p 1.74%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 2,066.00p 1.72%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 332.40p 1.65%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 514.00p 1.54%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,673.00p 1.43%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 7,650.00p -5.79%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,047.06p -1.22%
Glencore (GLEN) 323.96p -0.72%
British Land Company (BLND) 645.60p -0.65%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 4,521.00p -0.40%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,730.40p -0.33%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,359.00p -0.29%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 62.17p -0.29%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,573.00p -0.22%
Halma (HLMA) 1,402.00p -0.21%