29th Jul 2026 14:58
(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was 0.3% higher at 10,902.29 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
Weir Group surged to the top of the index as it hailed strong second-quarter orders and improved momentum.
The Sage Group was also a high riser as it reported an 11% jump in revenue for the first nine months of the year, with growth across the group driven by new and existing customers.
Miners Glencore and Rio Tinto both advanced following a half-year production report and first-half results, respectively.
Reckitt Benckiser rallied as the consumer goods giant launched a new £500m share buyback as second-quarter sales accelerated to drive a "good" first-half performance.
Standard Chartered rose as it announced the launch of a $1bn share buyback, lifted its full-year income target and posted better-than-expected first-half profit. In the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit jumped to a record $4.8bn from $4.4bn in the same period a year earlier, beating analysts' expectations of $4.5bn.
BP and Shell gushed higher in tandem with oil prices, after Iran launched an attack on US forces, while the US and Saudi Arabia launched joint strikes against Tehran-backed militias in Iraq.
Aberdeen was under the cosh despite posting a rise in first-half profit and record net inflows at Interactive Investor.
Haleon also fell ahead of half-year results on Thursday.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,722.00p 8.24%
The Sage Group (SGE) 1,006.00p 6.62%
BP (BP.) 541.80p 3.58%
Glencore (GLEN) 521.30p 3.52%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 2,169.00p 3.48%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,342.00p 2.74%
Shell (SHEL) 3,311.00p 2.55%
Experian (EXPN) 3,074.00p 2.52%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,176.00p 2.30%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,982.00p 2.07%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Abrdn (ABDN) 236.40p -4.83%
Entain (ENT) 560.60p -2.86%
Diploma (DPLM) 7,235.00p -2.49%
Investec (INVP) 633.00p -2.40%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 434.50p -2.38%
IMI (IMI) 2,904.00p -2.15%
Fresnillo (FRES) 2,498.00p -2.15%
Diageo (DGE) 1,650.00p -1.91%
National Grid (NG.) 1,193.50p -1.85%
Haleon (HLN) 376.70p -1.71%