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FTSE 100 movers: Banks rally on StanChart results; GSK falls
(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was flat at 8,663.77 in afternoon trade on Friday. Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered surged to the top of the index as it said it would hand back $1.5bn to shareholders after a rise in annual earnings.
Pre-tax profits for 2024 came in at $6bn, up from $5.1bn a year earlier and slightly below average estimates of $6.2bn.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Standard Chartered's fourth-quarter results may have slightly undershot analysts' forecasts due to higher loan and asset impairment and restructuring costs, but investors do not seem overly concerned thanks to a higher-than-expected dividend for 2024 and a new $1.5 billion share buyback for 2025.
"This rounds out a bumper set of full-year results from the FTSE 100's Big Five banks which are running like cash machines right now, in terms of how much they earn and how much they are returning to their shareholders."
NatWest and Barclays were also higher.
Centrica gained for the second day running as Citi reiterated its 'buy' rating on the British Gas owner and lifted its price target to 187p from 174p following the company's "stellar" results on Thursday.
The bank said the results ticked boxes on shareholder returns, more efficient use of balance sheet, earnings visibility and stability, "as well as (partially) clarity on growth".
On the downside, GSK fell following a Bloomberg report suggesting it could be targeted by activist investors after a long period of lagging behind rivals.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,186.50p 4.08% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 453.80p 4.06% Barclays (BARC) 305.15p 2.26% Centrica (CNA) 146.60p 2.12% Diageo (DGE) 2,165.50p 1.98% BT Group (BT.A) 149.80p 1.90% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 82.90p 1.89% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 349.70p 1.78% Convatec Group (CTEC) 245.40p 1.74% Airtel Africa (AAF) 137.90p 1.70%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Mondi (MNDI) 1,237.50p -2.17% GSK (GSK) 1,417.50p -2.04% British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,979.00p -1.85% Relx plc (REL) 3,923.00p -1.53% Fresnillo (FRES) 775.00p -1.52% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,265.00p -1.48% Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 423.20p -1.24% Shell (SHEL) 2,658.50p -0.95% Glencore (GLEN) 322.75p -0.86% Entain (ENT) 739.20p -0.86%
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