FTSE 100 movers: Ashtead falls again; Lloyds Banking tops index

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 8,292.43 in afternoon trade on Wednesday. Lloyds Banking Group surged to the top of the index after the Supreme Court agreed that Close Brothers could appeal a landmark ruling on motor finance commissions.

Lloyds Bank also provides motor finance.

Reckitt Benckiser got a boost after HSBC upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'hold' and lifted the price target to 5,500p from 4,800p as it took a look at the outlook for consumer staples next year.

The bank said Reckitt endured a difficult 2024 with the shares affected by a mix of operational challenges and adverse verdicts in several trials surrounding links between pre-term infant milk formula and necrotising enterocolitis (NEC, an intestinal illness affecting pre-term infants).

"However, we feel that the operational challenges were rather one-off in nature and, excluding these, the underlying performance of its Health & Hygiene business has been quite robust," it said.

"Recent months have also seen more favourable developments on the litigation front with one verdict in Reckitt's favour and also a slowing in the pipeline of new cases, which give us more confidence that even if Reckitt does end up settling, the amount would be manageable."

IAG flew higher after Deutsche Bank upgraded the BA and Iberia owner to 'buy' from 'hold' and hiked the price target to 400p from 215p.

The bank said constrained capacity on the Transatlantic to/from the UK - a key market for BA at around 40% of revenues - should help IAG to further progress pricing in 2025.

"This is supported by early evidence from our fares tracker and underpinned by the macro outlook for the US, the UK and Spain," it said. "With fuel set to be tailwind, we see scope for another year of ahead-of-consensus earnings growth in 2025 (DBe EBIT +6% versus consensus)."

Equipment rental firm Ashtead fell after a downgrade to 'neutral' at Goldman Sachs. The shares had already tumbled on Tuesday after it warned on profits and announced plans to move its primary listing to the US.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 54.82p 3.55% Pearson (PSON) 1,275.00p 3.03% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 4,822.00p 2.53% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 288.90p 2.45% Rentokil Initial (RTO) 416.40p 2.28% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 9,966.00p 2.13% Persimmon (PSN) 1,305.50p 1.87% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 21,980.00p 1.52% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,196.00p 1.44% Diageo (DGE) 2,479.50p 1.39%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,252.00p -2.60% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 383.80p -1.77% GSK (GSK) 1,354.00p -1.42% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 540.00p -1.28% SEGRO (SGRO) 726.00p -1.20% Frasers Group (FRAS) 624.50p -1.19% BT Group (BT.A) 152.30p -1.14% SSE (SSE) 1,658.00p -1.07% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,572.00p -1.00% British Land Company (BLND) 368.80p -0.91%