FTSE Moves: London market hits a 13-month high driven by miners and Barclays

The London market struggled for direction in afternoon trading, after earlier hitting a 13-month high. The FTSE 100 Index fell 10.1 points to 6,738.3, as the market opened the week with only a few corporate and economic releases to make bets on. The FTSE 250 lifted 94.3 points to 17,559.6.

But earlier in the session the blue chip index hit 6,814.87 points, boosted by miners and Barclays, its highest level since June last year.

Barclays was up 4.6p to 156.6p after brokers at Exane BNP Paribas upgraded its rating on the lender to "outperform" from "neutral" following last week's broad-based sector sell-off following the Bank of England halving interest rates to 0.25%.

Exane BNP Paribas analysts said: "While the valuation of the sector is still not that compelling, we think Barclays offers a credible capital plan and a clear route to improving returns."

In afternoon trading the biggest risers on the FTSE 100 Index were Barclays (+4.6p to 156.6p), BHP Billiton (+28.5p to 1042.5p), Antofagasta (+14p to 528p), Prudential (+30.5p to 1408p) and Provident Financial (+57p to 2802p).

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 Index were Hikma Pharmaceuticals (-116p to 2279p), Shire (-110p to 5035p), British American Tobacco (-84p to 4747.5p), GlaxoSmithKline (-26.5p to 1668p) and AstraZeneca (-81p to 5139p).

In afternoon trading the biggest risers on the FTSE 250 Index were Meggitt (+31.4p to 446p), Shawbrook Group (+11.5p to 201.5p), Vesuvius (+17.6p to 382.7p), Virgin Money (+11.7p to 284p) and Hochschild Mining and (+10.4p to 280.6p).

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 250 Index were Hastings Group (-11.7p to 197.3p), McCarthy & Stone (-9.7p to 170.1p), Restaurant Group (-9.9p to 359.4p), Polypipe Group (-6.5p to 253p) and Vectura Group (-3.7p to 147.1p).