Source: Sharecast
Private equity investment firm ICG was the worst performer on the index amid concerns about US regional banks, after Zions Bancorp and Western Alliance said on Thursday that they had been victims of fraud on loans to funds that invest in distressed commercial mortgages.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, noted that ICG has exposure to private credit and asset-backed finance.
Other financials also fell, with Barclays, Schroders and St James’s Place among the biggest losers.
Pearson bucked the trend, jumping to the top of the index as the educational publisher forecast a pick-up in fourth-quarter sales, leaving it on track to meet full-year guidance. Updating on trading, Pearson said underlying sales had grown 4% in third quarter, helping lift revenues in the year-to-date by 2%.
Pearson said it had been a quarter of "good progress", with robust performances across all its businesses.
Smiths Group also gained after announcing late on Thursday that it has agreed to sell Smiths Interconnect to Molex, a Koch company, for an enterprise value of £1.3bn.
Smiths said the sale, which is due to complete in the second half of fiscal 2026, is "a notable step forward" in the strategy to become a more focused industrial engineering company.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Pearson (PSON) 1,138.00p 4.02%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 2,422.00p 2.37%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 3,532.00p 1.09%
BT Group (BT.A) 183.90p 1.04%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,208.00p 1.00%
Haleon (HLN) 347.90p 0.81%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,834.00p 0.52%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,612.00p 0.48%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 86.36p 0.42%
Diageo (DGE) 1,807.00p 0.28%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
ICG (ICG) 1,917.00p -6.12%
Barclays (BARC) 361.35p -4.72%
Schroders (SDR) 373.40p -4.21%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,834.00p -3.88%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,136.00p -3.73%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 595.20p -3.53%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,297.50p -3.42%
Prudential (PRU) 978.20p -2.91%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,332.00p -2.84%
Fresnillo (FRES) 2,554.00p -2.82%
