FTSE 100 movers: Antofagasta leads miners lower; Aviva boosted by upgrade

13th Aug 2026 14:16

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 10,790.99 in afternoon trade on Thursday.

Heavily-weighted miners were under the cosh as copper prices fell.

Antofagasta led the way down as the Chilean copper miner posted a rise in first-half earnings but cut its 2026 production guidance to between 625,000 and 655,000 metric tons from 650,000-700,000 tons previously due to a shutdown at its Los Pelambres mine last month.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the downgrade to the production outlook is "a sharp reminder of the operational setbacks which are a fact of life in the mining sector".

Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Glencore were also lower, while precious metals miner Fresnillo lost its shine as gold and silver prices retreated.

Aberdeen, LSEG, and IG Group all lost ground as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Housebuilders were among the top gainers, with Barratt Redrow and Persimmon both up.

Aviva was also higher, after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to 'overweight' from 'neutral' and lifted the price target to 800p from 715p.

The bank said that factors including corporate restructuring and M&A speculation have led UK life insurers to outperform the Stoxx 600 insurance index and the FTSE 100 index by 2ppts / 6ppts, respectively, year to date.

"Aviva is the exception: it has lagged and de-rated versus its peers, and we believe it now offers attractive relative upside potential," JPM said. "Cash flow and capital returns is where the relative value debate on these stocks is clearest, with IFRS earnings a poor guide to free cash.

"We analyse the Solvency II operational capital generation (OCG) that may be returned to shareholders without eroding Solvency II ratios - or 'economic OCG'- as a proxy for FCF."

JPM said Aviva and Standard Life are generating better FCF yields on this basis than Legal & General or M&G, with superior capital return potential and dividend cover.

"Two additional debates reinforce our views: rising competition and weaker new business margins in the UK PRT (Pension Risk Transfer) market, to which L&G is most geared, while UK retail general insurance pricing trends are stabilising / turning more positive, supporting Aviva."

Aviva is due to report half-year results on Friday.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 13,310.00p 4.48%

Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 329.90p 2.83%

Computacenter (CCC) 4,936.00p 2.32%

Kingfisher (KGF) 328.70p 2.02%

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 344.40p 1.86%

Whitbread (WTB) 2,524.00p 1.86%

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,450.00p 1.82%

Persimmon (PSN) 1,190.50p 1.79%

British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,223.00p 1.78%

Aviva (AV.) 714.60p 1.51%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,851.00p -4.61%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 7,217.00p -4.23%

Fresnillo (FRES) 2,909.00p -3.68%

Anglo American (AAL) 3,932.00p -2.98%

Abrdn (ABDN) 243.20p -2.87%

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,506.00p -2.67%

BP (BP.) 519.00p -2.13%

IG Group Holdings (IGG) 1,327.00p -2.07%

Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 49.78p -1.87%

Glencore (GLEN) 564.50p -1.41%