FTSE 100 movers: Miners, utilities slump; Hiscox surges on bid speculation

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 1.8% at 10,186.43 in afternoon trade on Friday.

Miners were under the cosh as gold, silver and copper prices fell, with Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Anglo American and Rio Tinto among the worst performers.

Utilities - which tend to fall when government bond yields rise - were also sharply lower, with United Utilities, Severn Trent, Centrica and National Grid all down.

Centrica was also in focus after agreeing to pay £20m into Ofgem's voluntary redress fund and further compensate customers whose homes were broken into by debt collectors working for British Gas to illegally fit prepayment meters, in some cases where residents were vulnerable or had disabilities.

Hiscox surged following a report that Canada's Intact Financial is exploring a potential bid ⁠for the insurer.

According to Insurance Post - which cited sources at the British Insurance Brokers' Association - Intact ‌is ⁠looking at a big target and its CEO is known to be a fan of ​Hiscox, having ​spoken ⁠highly of it in the past.

3i Group clawed back some ground, having tanked on Thursday after the private equity and infrastructure investment firm pointed to slowing sales at its biggest holding, Dutch discount retailer Action.

BP was also higher as oil prices rose after US President Donald Trump said that China had agreed to buy oil from the US.

Standard Life was boosted by a double upgrade to 'overweight' from 'underweight' by JPMorgan, which hiked the price target to 950p from 620p.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,837.00p 12.51%

3i Group (III) 2,199.00p 4.17%

Diageo (DGE) 1,526.00p 1.83%

BP (BP.) 548.70p 1.48%

Standard Life (SDLF) 776.00p 1.37%

Relx plc (REL) 2,397.00p 1.35%

The Sage Group (SGE) 864.40p 1.12%

Haleon (HLN) 331.10p 0.73%

Experian (EXPN) 2,581.00p 0.70%

Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 6,996.00p 0.66%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Airtel Africa (AAF) 326.60p -11.19%

Fresnillo (FRES) 3,351.00p -9.71%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,892.00p -7.32%

Anglo American (AAL) 3,778.00p -7.19%

United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,298.00p -5.93%

Severn Trent (SVT) 2,940.00p -5.87%

Centrica (CNA) 191.55p -5.54%

National Grid (NG.) 1,221.00p -5.50%

SSE (SSE) 2,322.00p -5.45%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 7,741.00p -5.02%