FTSE 100 movers: Miners gain on China stimulus hopes; Vodafone drops

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 8,351.72 in afternoon trade on Monday. Miners Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto were among the top gainers after China's leaders pledged to implement "more proactive" fiscal policy next year to boost consumption.

BP was also in the black as the energy giant said it had partnered with Japan's largest power generation company to combine their offshore wind operations.

The equally owned joint venture, called JERA Nex BP, will see BP and Japanese firm JERA provide up to $5.8bn in capital funding for investments before the end of 2030.

Advertising giant WPP rose following reports that Omnicom and Interpublic are in $30bn merger talks.

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: "Investors in WPP seemed to shrug off the prospect of two arch-rivals coming together and creating a force to be reckoned with.

"On one hand, a merger of two companies this size would inevitably involve widespread cost cutting as the first course of action. That could give WPP a window of opportunity to try and poach some clients while its enlarged rival's management is distracted.

"On the other hand, a merger would bring together the cream of the crop from both companies which would aid their narrative during account pitches."

Vodafone was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'neutral' at Goldman Sachs.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,826.50p 5.55% BP (BP.) 396.80p 5.04% Glencore (GLEN) 396.45p 4.88% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,144.00p 4.47% Vistry Group (VTY) 698.50p 4.33% Fresnillo (FRES) 681.00p 3.89% Anglo American (AAL) 2,548.50p 3.41% Prudential (PRU) 684.20p 3.32% WPP (WPP) 895.00p 3.16% GSK (GSK) 1,384.00p 2.98%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

CRH (CDI) (CRH) 7,794.00p -3.71% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,194.00p -2.89% Whitbread (WTB) 2,924.00p -2.14% Relx plc (REL) 3,670.00p -2.03% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 9,948.00p -1.94% Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 828.60p -1.94% Land Securities Group (LAND) 584.00p -1.68% Next (NXT) 9,838.00p -1.62% Vodafone Group (VOD) 71.02p -1.53% LondonMetric Property (LMP) 185.50p -1.49%