FTSE 100 movers: Insurers please market

Strong results from insurers are offsetting disappointing figures from other Footsie companies. Aviva reported a better-than-expected 21% rise in its half-year profit, while RSA Insurance Group announced revenue growth in all geographic regions and a 'resilient underwriting result' in what was a tough first half for the insurance industry.Aviva increased its interim dividend by 6% to 9.5p a share. RSA upped its dividend by 7% to 3.12p a share. Fund manager Schroders revealed funds under management at the end of June were £164bn, up from £148.4bn at the end of 2009. Pre-tax profit increased more than five-fold to £188.2m, from £36.3m, and more than doubled after stripping out one-off costs last year. The one weak spot was the private banking business where profits fell to £6.6m from £14.9m hit by lower interest income and a £4.7m bad debt.Medical devices firm Smith & Nephew posted a 7% rise in second quarter trading profit and expects further progress in the second half.Defence and aerospace firm Cobham is being hit by delays in defence projects at a time when commercial revenues are weak. Cobham is hopeful that projects will start in the second half of 2010 but commercial revenues are likely to be flat. Pre-tax profits for the first half of 2010 were £97m, down from £139m, even though revenues increased to £963m from £952m.Randgold Resources is down even thoug it posted a sharp rise in profits in the second quarter of 2010, despite lower production, on higher gold prices. Randgold upped its production target for a mine that is developing ahead of schedule. Anglo-Dutch household goods conglomerate Unilever is lower after it saw volume growth slow in the second quarter and said it expects the trading environment to remain difficult for the rest of the year. The company announced second quarter turnover of €11.75bn, up 12% (3% using constant exchange rates).FTSE 100 - RisersAviva (AV.) 391.10p +6.31%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 134.40p +4.59%Schroders (SDR) 1,390.00p +3.89%Schroders NV (SDRC) 1,139.00p +3.17%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 76.51p +2.71%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 986.00p +2.44%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 573.00p +2.32%Prudential (PRU) 580.50p +2.11%Old Mutual (OML) 124.10p +2.06%ARM Holdings (ARM) 322.00p +2.06%FTSE 100 - FallersCobham (COB) 223.70p -6.79%Randgold Resources (RRS) 5,435.00p -4.90%Unilever (ULVR) 1,743.00p -4.81%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,047.00p -4.64%Barclays (BARC) 324.15p -4.62%Whitbread (WTB) 1,403.00p -2.37%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,100.00p -2.02%Cairn Energy (CNE) 465.20p -1.92%Compass Group (CPG) 538.50p -1.91%BG Group (BG.) 1,020.50p -1.87%