FTSE 100 movers: Barclays boosted by Merrill upgrade; Shire hit by Roche news
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,394.52 in afternoon trade on Monday as investors digested political events in Germany and looked ahead to this week's Budget.
Barclays was lifted by a double upgrade to 'buy' at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which bumped up its target price to 220p from 180p.
Building materials business CRH was also flying higher on the back of a broker note, as Barclays set the stock as its new sector 'top pick', replacing Eiffage.
"We believe CRH stands out among large Building Materials companies given its healthy balance sheet that allows for sizeable acquisitions and a convincing M&A track record," it said.
"Following steep underperformance vs. both European and US peers, CRH’s historical valuation premium has completely vanished, which we believe is unjustified given its superior earnings growth."
Shire was on the back foot, with traders pointing to the fact that Swiss rival Roche announced two trial wins, with successes for a lung cancer drug and a haemophilia drug.
Also on Monday, the biopharmaceutical company said Thomas Dittrich will take up the role of chief financial officer early next year following a transition period from his current employer, Swiss engineering and manufacturing group Sulzer.
Sainsbury was under the cosh after a downgrade to 'market perform' at Bernstein.
FTSE 100 - Risers
BAE Systems (BA.) 548.00p 2.33%
Barclays (BARC) 189.10p 2.22%
Tesco (TSCO) 188.10p 1.84%
Next (NXT) 4,379.00p 1.74%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,221.50p 1.72%
CRH (CRH) 2,744.00p 1.63%
Sky (SKY) 955.00p 1.60%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,941.00p 1.57%
Ferguson (FERG) 5,345.00p 1.52%
Sage Group (SGE) 770.00p 1.45%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,570.00p -2.95%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 202.30p -1.51%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 548.00p -1.35%
SSE (SSE) 1,329.00p -1.26%
3i Group (III) 912.50p -1.19%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,807.00p -1.01%
ITV (ITV) 149.00p -1.00%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,350.50p -0.95%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,284.00p -0.93%
Hammerson (HMSO) 529.00p -0.84%