FTSE 100 movers: Spirax rallies again; Beazley slumps on results.


London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 9,163.61 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.

Spirax-Sarco Engineering

Source: Sharecast

Spirax Group was the top gainer again, having surged on Tuesday on the back of better-than-expected first-half results.

Specialist insurer Beazley tumbled as it posted a drop in first-half profit and cut its full-year premium growth guidance.

"The firm highlighted climate change and technology as two key issues that are undermining predictability for the insurance industry, and which undoubtedly make things tricky for any company which is in the business of pricing risk," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Hiscox also lost ground.

Housebuilder Persimmon slumped after saying it still expects to deliver between 11,000 and 11,500 completions for the full year despite challenging market conditions and the prospect of tax rises in October’s Budget.

The company said its private forward order book was up 11% to £1.25bn, while underlying pre-tax profits for the six months to June were also up 11%, to £165m.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Spirax Group (SPX) 7,055.00p 3.07%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,370.00p 2.56%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,107.00p 1.40%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 221.40p 1.37%
GSK (GSK) 1,423.50p 1.35%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 8,302.00p 1.34%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 230.00p 1.32%
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 542.80p 1.16%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 348.70p 1.07%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,279.00p 1.02%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Beazley (BEZ) 809.50p -11.24%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,106.50p -2.55%
Entain (ENT) 898.20p -2.16%
Diageo (DGE) 2,022.00p -1.94%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,311.00p -1.65%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 376.10p -1.65%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 9,230.00p -1.60%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,220.00p -1.59%
BP (BP.) 418.80p -1.24%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,062.00p -1.12%

Compare our accounts

If you're looking to grow your money over the longer term (5+ years), we have a range of investment choices to help.

Halifax is not responsible for the content and accuracy of the Markets News articles. We may not share the views of the author. Understand the risks, please remember the value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invest. We don't provide advice so if you are in any doubt about buying and selling shares or making your own investment decisions we recommend you seek advice from a suitably qualified Financial Advisor. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.