Shares in BAE Systems were wanted after the firm boosted its interim dividend and announced a £500m share repurchase program.

For the six months ended 30 June, the defence group reported a 13% drop in sales, saying that the fall was in line with expectations. Headline revenue was £9.2bn, compared with £10.5bn last year, hurt by reduced activity following the UK defence secretary Liam Fox's strategic defence and security review in 2010.

Catering giant Compass headed south after the company was hit by the effects of the events in Japan earlier this year. Compass was still able to maintain its expectations for the full year after "another good performance" in the third quarter.

Telecoms giant BT reported a 20% jump in sales prompting demand for its shares while terrestrial broadcaster ITV advanced, helped by favourable commentary from broker Peel Hunt, which said everything is "going to plan" for the television company.

FTSE 100 - Risers
BAE Systems (BA.) 307.40p +5.09%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 537.00p +3.87%
BT Group (BT.A) 196.20p +2.88%
Capita Group (CPI) 713.00p +1.13%
ITV (ITV) 69.65p +1.09%
International Power (IPR) 307.80p +0.92%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 43.58p +0.79%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,498.00p +0.78%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,920.00p +0.63%
Standard Life (SL.) 198.80p +0.61%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Compass Group (CPG) 565.50p -2.84%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 575.50p -2.70%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,302.50p -2.65%
Lonmin (LMI) 1,287.00p -2.65%
Centrica (CNA) 311.90p -2.62%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,113.00p -2.40%
Investec (INVP) 480.90p -2.39%
Amec (AMEC) 1,064.00p -2.30%
Carnival (CCL) 2,178.00p -2.20%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,762.00p -2.06%

Related share prices
BT Group (BT.A) share price
Compass Group (CPG) share price
Beale (BAE) share price
ITV (ITV) share price