FTSE 100 movers: Shire higher on positive broker coverage, Rio Tinto boosted as production improves

16th Jul 2015 14:47

(ShareCast News) - London markets inched higher on Thursday, spurred on by reports of progress in Greece and strong performances from oil, engineering and property stocks.As of 1430 BST, the FTSE 100 was trading 0.6% higher at 6,791.Shire got a leg up as Berenberg re-initiated coverage of the stock with a 'buy' rating and 6,300p price target. The German bank said the ambitious guidance of $10bn sales by 2020 announced in mid-2014 is more than achievable and is rapidly becoming outdated as the pipeline expands and products from the recent NPS acquisition achieve sales accretion.Dixons Carphone was in favour after posting a 21% rise in pre-tax profit in its final results and reporting that its integration was progressing well. For the 13 months to 2 May 2015, pre-tax profit came in at £381m from £316m last year, on revenue of £9.9bn, up 6% from 2014 on a like-for-like basis. The numbers were better than analysts had expected.Experian was trading higher after announcing that its full-year expectations remained unchanged, despite actual exchange rates total revenue dipping 6% due to currency headwinds.Wolseley extended Wednesday's gains, which came as JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded its rating on the stock to 'overweight' from 'neutral' and hiked its price target to 4,800p from 4,100p, due to improving profit margins.Imperial Tobacco was also on the up, as it laid out plans to sell a further stake in its Spanish logistics unit Cia de Distribution Integral Logista Holdings SA.Rio Tinto received a boost after revealing in a second-quarter update that iron ore production was 9% higher compared to the same quarter in 2014 and 7% above the first quarter of 2015.However, sector peers Fresnillo and Randgold Resources were both in the red, tracking lower metal prices across the board.FTSE 100 - RisersWeir Group (WEIR) 1,640.00p +2.89%Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,083.00p +2.46%St James's Place (STJ) 1,001.00p +2.25%Pearson (PSON) 1,254.00p +2.12%Wolseley (WOS) 4,385.00p +1.88%Shire Plc (SHP) 5,540.00p +1.84%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,159.00p +1.76%ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,034.00p +1.67%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,253.50p +1.62%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,637.00p +1.54%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 669.50p -1.03%BP (BP.) 424.20p -0.68%G4S (GFS) 271.00p -0.59%AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,319.00p -0.56%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 544.00p -0.55%United Utilities Group (UU.) 882.00p -0.34%Kingfisher (KGF) 363.90p -0.30%BG Group (BG.) 1,074.00p -0.28%Severn Trent (SVT) 2,162.00p -0.23%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,576.00p -0.13%