FTSE 100 movers: Defence firms give back gains; Phoenix lifted by upgrade.


London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 8,827.38 in afternoon trade on Friday.

Phoenix Group Holdings

Source: Sharecast

Housebuilders were among the gainers, with Barratt Redrow, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon all up.

Data released by Halifax earlier showed that house prices eased slightly in May following surge in activity during spring.

House prices fell by 0.4% last month following a 0.3% rise in April. The average property price is now £296,648.

However, Halifax said the market remained stable, with house prices up 2.5% over the year.

Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at the lender, said: "These small monthly movements point to a housing market that has remained largely stable, with average prices down just 0.2% since the start of the year.

"The market appears to have absorbed the temporary surge in activity over spring, which was driven by the changes to stamp duty."

Phoenix Group rose after an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ by Deutsche Bank, which lifted its price target on the stock to 720 from 575p.

On the downside, defence firms Babcock and BAE Systems were the worst performers on the index, having gained sharply earlier in the week.

Legal & General fell after a downgrade to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank, which trimmed the price target to 270p from 275p.

Miners were also in the red, with Antofagasta, Anglo American and Glencore all down as copper prices fell.

FTSE 100 - Risers

3i Group (III) 4,249.00p 2.39%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,175.50p 2.00%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 447.90p 1.68%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,346.00p 1.58%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 114.75p 1.55%
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 653.00p 1.48%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 278.20p 1.46%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 81.78p 1.44%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,222.00p 1.38%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,293.50p 1.37%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,056.00p -4.43%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,937.50p -2.25%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,904.50p -2.21%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,261.50p -1.40%
SEGRO (SGRO) 678.00p -1.11%
Glencore (GLEN) 290.05p -0.96%
Admiral Group (ADM) 3,324.00p -0.95%
Experian (EXPN) 3,776.00p -0.89%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 180.10p -0.88%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 255.70p -0.85%

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