Legal & General Share News (LGEN)

Gas giant BG Group clawed back some of yesterday's heavy losses which came after it delivered a double blow to investors, announcing the departure of Chief Executive Chris Finlayson and warned its 2014 production levels would be at the lower end of expectations due to challenges in Egypt. Financial stocks were notable risers in today's session, with Legal & General, Hargreaves Lansdown, Standard Life and Standard Chartered all sitting in the top 10, boosted in part by UK GDP growth of 0.8%. Pharmaceutical stocks had a fairly bumpy ride today, initially boosted by continued M&A activity in the sector, with Shire rising strongly on rumours that Botox maker Allergan is still interested in buying the Dublin-based group after initial takeover talks fell apart last month. However, investor appetite had weaked by this afternoon, with the stock sliding into the red. AstraZeneca, which surged nearly 15% yesterday after Pfizer said it was still interested despite the Anglo-Swedish firm knocking back an initial 4,661p-a-share (£60bn) approach, was retreating this afternoon, having had a rather turbulent day so far. Also in the red was Fresnillo, with mining stocks in general trading slightly lower as metals prices weakened. Analysts at HSBC downgraded their ratings for BHP Billiton, Antofagasta and Anglo American to 'neutral' today. Builders merchant Travis Perkins extended yesterday's losses, while G4S suffered from readacross from Serco, which dragged the second tier lower after issuing a fresh profit warning and indicating it may have to raise capital through a share placing just days before new Chief Executive Rupert Soames takes up his role.FTSE 100 - RisersBG Group (BG.) 1,191.00p +3.93%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 211.80p +2.67%Carnival (CCL) 2,358.00p +2.66%BP (BP.) 500.30p +2.45%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,179.00p +2.43%Standard Life (SL.) 384.90p +2.37%Royal Mail (RMG) 522.00p +2.05%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,307.50p +1.95%easyJet (EZJ) 1,659.00p +1.90%Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,948.00p +1.69%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 847.00p -2.02%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,723.00p -1.20%G4S (GFS) 236.50p -1.00%Shire Plc (SHP) 3,253.00p -1.00%Antofagasta (ANTO) 780.00p -0.95%Capita (CPI) 1,053.00p -0.85%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 96.10p -0.77%ARM Holdings (ARM) 908.50p -0.71%Pearson (PSON) 1,096.00p -0.63%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 352.00p -0.51%NR