FTSE 100 movers: Miners rally; BAT goes ex-div

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 8,740.61 in afternoon trade on Thursday. Heavily-weighted miners rallied as copper prices rose, with Anglo American, Glencore and Antofagasta all up.

3i Group was also in the black as it said Dutch retailer Action saw sales jump over the first half of the year. Updating on its portfolio at the annual general meeting, the blue chip private equity firm said like-for-like sales grew by 6.9% at Action in the first 25 weeks of the year.

Ladbrokes owner Entain was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral' at Goldman Sachs, which hiked the price target to 1,020p from 810p.

British American Tobacco was the worst performer on the index as it traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Melrose Industries fell after Kepler Cheuvreux downgraded the shares to 'hold' from 'buy'.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 2,133.00p 6.36% Glencore (GLEN) 287.45p 5.18% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,810.00p 4.87% 3i Group (III) 4,128.00p 4.53% Entain (ENT) 892.60p 4.37% St James's Place (STJ) 1,165.00p 3.83% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 81.34p 3.72% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,871.00p 2.86% DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,714.00p 2.84% Fresnillo (FRES) 1,477.00p 2.64%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,461.00p -1.59% Unilever (ULVR) 4,432.00p -1.55% Experian (EXPN) 3,775.00p -1.54% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,006.00p -1.47% Melrose Industries (MRO) 512.60p -1.46% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 879.90p -1.13% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,478.00p -1.10% Admiral Group (ADM) 3,286.00p -0.96% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 4,993.00p -0.74% Haleon (HLN) 380.60p -0.73%