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FTSE 100 movers: Insurers lead upside after recent falls

Fri, 04th Apr 2014 14:43

Insurance groups RSA, Resolution and Aviva all made decent gains, bucking the trend of recent times, hit by both the Budget statement and the Financial Conduct Authority's plans to review old insurance policies. Pearson was higher after Jefferies upgraded the publisher to 'buy' and raised its target from 1,128p to 1,184p.Mining stocks including Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Fresnillo were recovering from yesterday's declines as they tracked metal prices higher. Airline easyJet also flew higher after saying the number of passengers in March rose by 4.8% to 5,107,676 compared to a year earlier. The load factor, the number of passengers to the number of seats available, increased to 91.5% from 90.5% the same month in 2013.Meanwhile, department store Marks & Spencer was in the red after Goldman Sachs warned of margin pressures, saying that the business is not immune to the increasing competition in the UK grocery market. In a report last night, the bank added M&S to its 'Conviction Sell List' and slashed its target price from 420p to 340p.Other retailers such as Kingfisher were also down despite research from Deloitte saying that the High Street has showed "great resilience" since the financial crisis.Supermarket group Tesco was trading lower on speculation that its Finance Chief Laurie McIlwee could quit in the coming days amid falling profits and a recent decline in market share. McIlwee has worked for Tesco for 15 years. Sector peer Morrison was also in the bottom 10. Telecoms group Vodafone was hit with a downgrade by Nomura to 'neutral' and a target price cut from 255p to 240p. Johnson Matthey fell after Numis lowered its target price from 3,500p to 3,470p, while leaving its 'hold' recommendation unaltered.FTSE 100 - RisersRSA Insurance Group (RSA) 93.65p +2.91%Mondi (MNDI) 1,084.00p +2.85%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 296.30p +2.53%Anglo American (AAL) 1,554.00p +2.47%easyJet (EZJ) 1,833.00p +2.35%Aviva (AV.) 500.00p +2.25%Whitbread (WTB) 4,294.00p +2.24%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,389.50p +2.22%Pearson (PSON) 1,029.00p +2.08%Fresnillo (FRES) 888.50p +2.07%FTSE 100 - FallersARM Holdings (ARM) 1,008.00p -1.75%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,247.00p -1.50%Kingfisher (KGF) 438.40p -1.31%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 465.50p -1.29%Tesco (TSCO) 287.95p -1.29%Vodafone Group (VOD) 216.95p -1.00%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,265.00p -0.91%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 413.10p -0.82%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 205.40p -0.77%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,977.00p -0.77%NR

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