FTSE 100 movers: Shell gushes higher after results; Next hit by downgrade

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 7,646.25 in afternoon trade on Thursday as investors mulled the latest policy announcement from the Bank of England. Shell gushed higher as the oil giant posted a drop in annual profits but lifted its dividend and announced another $3.5bn share buyback.

Property portal Rightmove gained as it announced the acquisition of HomeViews for £8m in cash.

HomeViews is the UK's biggest community of verified resident reviews of property developments, with a particular focus on the build to rent sector, it said.

Phoenix was also in the black as the savings and retirement business said it was able to achieve its 2025 growth target two years early after a strong performance in 2023 with new business net fund flows up 80%.

3i Group fell even as the private equity and venture capital firm reported an 8% increase in net asset value (NAV) over the third quarter and an "excellent" result from Europe-focused non-food discounter Action.

Next was in the red after Barclays downgraded shares of the retailer to 'equalweight' from 'overweight' but lifted the price target to 8,500p from 8,250p, as it said the valuation is now reasonable.

"Although we still very much like the long-term story at Next, we feel that the share price is 'up with events' after a strong run," it said. Barclays noted that the shares are up 26% since the end of October last year, versus the FTSE 100 up 5%.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Diploma (DPLM) 3,346.00p 2.64% Shell (SHEL) 2,505.00p 2.37% Croda International (CRDA) 4,900.00p 1.98% Glencore (GLEN) 427.20p 1.61% Entain (ENT) 983.00p 1.53% Rightmove (RMV) 568.60p 1.50% Airtel Africa (AAF) 113.80p 1.43% Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 512.40p 1.39% Beazley (BEZ) 551.50p 1.29% WPP (WPP) 781.20p 1.27%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 511.00p -3.88% 3i Group (III) 2,407.00p -2.90% Ocado Group (OCDO) 531.20p -2.82% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,381.00p -2.20% Next (NXT) 8,334.00p -1.58% Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,306.00p -1.50% Land Securities Group (LAND) 660.40p -1.37% Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 2,910.00p -1.29% SEGRO (SGRO) 871.80p -1.13% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 279.60p -1.06%