Source: Sharecast
Glencore surged to the top of the index after it and Rio Tinto confirmed they are in preliminary talks about a possible combination of some or all of their businesses, which could include an all-share merger - a deal that would create the world's largest mining company.
In 2014, Rio rejected a merger approach from Glencore, while talks between the two collapsed in 2024 after they failed to agree on valuation.
Rio Tinto shares were down but miners more generally were in the black, with Antofagasta also higher.
Flutter Entertainment rallied. In a research note on Thursday, Texas Capital initiated coverage of the US shares at ‘buy’.
Marks & Spencer was trading up after Berenberg upgraded the shares to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and nudged up the price target to 415p from 412p. The bank said share price weakness in November and December has brought the forward price-to-earnings valuation (to March 2027E) down to a "relatively attractive" 10x.
Sainsbury’s was in focus after saying it remained on track to deliver annual retail profits of more than £1bn, following strong demand for food and drink in the run up to Christmas.
The supermarket saw grocery sales jump 5.1% in the six weeks to 3 January, and by 5.4% over the third quarter. However, shares in the blue chip came under pressure after weak consumer confidence spending weighed on sales elsewhere in the group.
IAG flew lower after saying it had appointed Joe Antonio Barrionuevo, the finance chief of British Airways, as its new chief financial officer, succeeding Nicholas Cadbury.
Aviva fell after a downgrade to ‘equalweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Glencore (GLEN) 454.10p 9.95%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 16,560.00p 3.79%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 357.00p 3.54%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,445.00p 3.27%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 590.00p 3.18%
Fresnillo (FRES) 3,524.00p 2.44%
Shell (SHEL) 2,624.50p 2.44%
Weir Group (WEIR) 3,018.00p 2.31%
Diageo (DGE) 1,635.50p 2.09%
Entain (ENT) 771.80p 2.06%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 313.20p -4.80%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,075.00p -1.92%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 427.90p -1.84%
SEGRO (SGRO) 729.00p -1.33%
Tesco (TSCO) 417.00p -1.21%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 102.40p -1.21%
Aviva (AV.) 682.40p -1.19%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,976.00p -1.14%
Haleon (HLN) 367.90p -1.08%
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 737.00p -0.87%