Wood Group (J) Share News (WG.)

Rio Tinto was among the best performers on Thursday after Chief Executive Tom Albanese boasted at an investors seminar that the company was 'very well positioned despite the challenging global environment'. The company said it is targeting five billion dollars of cost savings by the end of 2014 as it voiced 'major uncertainties' about the future growth of the US and Europe. However, it the firm added it was "guardedly optimistic" on China's prospects, forecasting a light rise in Chinese GDP growth to above eight per cent next year. Staying with China, luxury retailer Burberry got a lift after Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said that the country would definitely hit its growth target of at least 7.5% this year. The stock has been very sensitive to news on Chinese economic activity, after the firm's products proved such a hit amongst the country's consumers.Utilities firm Pennon, which owns South West Water and waste business Viridor, was another riser after delivering half-year pre-tax profits in line with expectations, up 3.4% to £111.1m. Energy services giant Wood Group lead the fallers on reports that the Wood family trust and members of the Wood family reduced its stake in the firm by 4.4%. DIY group Kingfisher was lower after seeing like-for-like sales fall 2.8% in the third quarter. In the UK, Kingfisher's biggest market, total sales declined by 0.7% to £1.05bn, and were down 3.8% in like-for-like terms. Pay-TV and broadband group BSkyB was lower after Jefferies downgraded its rating on the stock from 'hold' to 'underperform' and cut its target price from 700p to 650p."We no longer believe Sky's valuation reflects the challenges it faces as the UK's incumbent pay TV platform as the market matures," analysts at Jefferies said.FTSE 100 - RisersKazakhmys (KAZ) 714.50p +5.31%Pennon Group (PNN) 624.50p +4.34%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,068.00p +4.34%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,291.00p +4.20%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 275.40p +3.89%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,381.00p +3.61%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,317.00p +3.38%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,878.00p +3.36%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,626.00p +3.04%Anglo American (AAL) 1,756.00p +2.87%FTSE 100 - FallersWood Group (John) (WG.) 779.50p -4.36%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 749.50p -1.83%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 769.50p -1.22%ARM Holdings (ARM) 765.00p -0.97%Kingfisher (KGF) 277.90p -0.96%Pearson (PSON) 1,171.00p -0.59%Diageo (DGE) 1,870.00p -0.45%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,498.00p -0.44%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 766.50p -0.26%Next (NXT) 3,640.00p -0.22%MM