London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 8,263.76 in afternoon trade on Friday .
National Grid jumped to the top of the index after Jefferies reiterated its ‘buy’ rating on the energy infrastructure firm.
British Gas owner Centrica was also a high riser after an upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘sector perform’ at RBC Capital Markets.
“A more positive outlook on numbers drives an increase in our valuation and an upgrade to outperform, whilst we think that upcoming reporting could provide a positive catalyst to shareholder returns,” the bank said.
Whitbread advanced after JPMorgan Cazenove reiterated its ‘overweight’ rating on the Premier Inn owner.
It said Whitbread continues to be one of its key convictions and sees the recent pullback – the shares are down 20% year-to-date – as “an opportunity to revisit the story”.
JD Sports Fashion tumbled after it reported lower-than-expected annual profits as it continued to invest in its store estate. Profits before tax and adjusting items of £917.2m were down 7.5%, against forecasts of £920m. Organic sales were up 9%.
Associated British Foods fell after UBS sold 10.3m shares in the Primark owner in a placing on behalf of its biggest shareholder, Howard Investments Limited.
Shares in Flutter Entertainment declined as the gambling outfit said finance chief Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson would leave the company with immediate effect as it shifted its listing to the US.
FTSE 100 – Risers
National Grid (NG.) 878.80p 4.25%
Centrica (CNA) 144.25p 3.67%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,999.00p 3.09%
SSE (SSE) 1,749.00p 1.92%
Beazley (BEZ) 694.00p 1.76%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,377.00p 1.76%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,021.00p 1.74%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,395.00p 1.60%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 4,158.00p 1.51%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 415.80p 1.51%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 125.50p -6.20%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,547.00p -4.25%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 121.20p -2.10%
St James’s Place (STJ) 496.00p -1.98%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 376.70p -1.77%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 810.80p -1.72%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 14,800.00p -1.17%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,316.00p -1.03%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,043.50p -1.00%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 8,960.00p -0.99%