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(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was 0.3% higher at 10,938.67 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Miners Antofagasta and Anglo American rallied as copper prices advanced. Anglo was also in focus as it lifted its dividend and posted a narrowing of its first-half losses.
Rolls-Royce surged as it lifted its full-year profit guidance following a strong first half. It now expects £4.7bn to £4.9bn in underlying operating profits and £3.8bn to £4bn of free cash flow, up from previous ranges of £4.0bn to £4.2bn and £3.6bn to £3.8bn, respectively.
Lloyds Banking Group gained as it held annual guidance after a 23% jump in half-year profits driven by higher net interest income and announced a £1bn share buyback, while Mondi advanced after better-than-expected first-half results.
Rentokil Initial tumbled after the pest control firm ditched its margin target for North America and said it had seen some weakness in residential lead flow in the region towards the end of the second quarter and into July.
The company said it was "retiring" its NA margin target of 20% in 2027 as it focuses on "driving volume growth over short-term margin expansion".
LSEG fell despite raising its full-year guidance as it hailed a record first-half performance and an "exceptional" performance from the markets businesses.
British American Tobacco was also in the red after half-year results.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,753.00p 5.43%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,455.40p 5.26%
Halma (HLMA) 3,554.00p 4.40%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,770.00p 3.91%
Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 11,570.00p 3.77%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 115.35p 3.55%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 2,232.00p 3.52%
Barclays (BARC) 510.10p 3.51%
Investec (INVP) 650.00p 3.34%
Prudential (PRU) 1,133.00p 3.33%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 359.90p -18.86%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 7,706.00p -5.72%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,690.00p -5.54%
Relx plc (REL) 2,737.00p -4.45%
The Sage Group (SGE) 985.00p -3.37%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 12,730.00p -3.23%
GSK (GSK) 1,952.50p -2.82%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,850.00p -2.59%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,116.00p -2.50%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,608.00p -2.45%
