FTSE 100 movers: Miners recover, Vedanta tops the risers

24th Nov 2011 13:41

With metals prices recovering on Thursday after yesterday's falls - on the back of ongoing worries in the Eurozone and some disappointing Chinese manufacturing data - the miners were in demand.Vedanta Resources, Fresnillo, Kazakhmys and Xstrata were all performing well. The sector was making an average gain of 2.04% as of 14:24, but still remained 7.67% down on the week after bearing the brunt of investors' macro-economic fears.However, Antofagasta was underperforming the sector, rising by just 0.6% after its nine-month results were mildly disappointing. Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) surged 28.0% to $2,505.5m from $1,957.3m the year before. The number would have been $390.3m higher but for negative mark-to-market adjustments of provisional sales at the period end. There has been a reappraisal of Scottish engineer Weir's acquisition of Texan hydraulic fracturing specialist Seaboard announced yesterday. Initial reaction yesterday was negative, but a number of brokers seem pleased with the deal today. Panmure Gordon raised its full-year estimates, while Peel Hunt upgraded the stock from hold to buy.Defensive stocks were being sold off today, as the risk-on approach drove gains in the mining sector. Pharmaceutical peers Shire, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca were in the red, joined by utility stocks National Grid and Severn Trent, and tobacco giants British American and Imperial.Contract caterer Compass Group nudged higher after Panmure Gordon updated its earnings forecasts and bumped up its price target following the company's results yesterday. The new target price is 658p, up from 643p. The broker rates the shares as a buy. BCFTSE 100 - RisersICAP (IAP) 326.80p +4.88%Vedanta Resources (VED) 973.50p +4.79%IMI (IMI) 710.00p +4.18%Investec (INVP) 331.40p +4.08%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 139.20p +4.04%Barclays (BARC) 153.55p +3.82%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,779.00p +3.49%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 22.59p +3.43%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 815.50p +3.42%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,171.00p +3.35%FTSE 100 - FallersAdmiral Group (ADM) 848.50p -1.91%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,972.00p -1.89%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,146.00p -1.51%National Grid (NG.) 622.50p -1.50%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 658.50p -1.50%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,333.00p -1.44%Inmarsat (ISAT) 391.80p -1.33%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 102.20p -1.26%BP (BP.) 421.50p -1.15%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,225.00p -1.11%