GKN shares rose into the top spot after Goldman Sachs raised its target price from 195p to 272p and upgraded the stock from sell to neutral.

Capita Group followed closed behind after Jefferies raised its target price from 840p to 1,010p and kept a buy recommendation. The business process manager announced Friday that it has acquired debt recovery specialists iQor Holdings UK and subsidiaries (iQor UK) from its US parent company, for an enterprise value of £42m.

Centrica was boosted by Societe Generale's decision to increases its target price from 371p to 400p, upgrading it to buy.

Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl has acquired Brazilian outfit Labor Import Comercial Importadora Exportadora.

Revenue rose by 17% to £2.1bn in the full year ended December 31st at safety services provider Intertek, prompting shares to rise. The company reported that operating profit increased by 19% to £335m with constant currency organic profit growth of 11.2%.

Meanwhile, miners were generally weaker on the back of news out from China. Anglo American was a significant faller after analysts at Nomura lowered their rating on the shares to reduce from neutral.

Emerging markets focused lender HSBC was also lower after it reported a profit before tax of $20.6bn (£13.73bn), down 6.0% on 2011, including $5.2bn of adverse fair value movements on own debt. The consensus estimate had been calling for a profit before tax of £14.272bn.

Sector peer Lloyds was down, hit by the news that Bank of England lending to banks fell in the fourth quarter despite the Funding-for-Lending Scheme.

FTSE 100 - Risers
GKN (GKN) 277.80p +3.12%
Capita (CPI) 885.00p +3.09%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,470.00p +2.44%
Centrica (CNA) 362.50p +2.08%
Bunzl (BNZL) 1,307.00p +1.63%
WPP (WPP) 1,075.00p +1.61%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,265.00p +1.44%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,555.50p +1.35%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,441.00p +1.33%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,417.00p +1.09%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 560.00p -5.08%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,316.50p -3.65%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 51.39p -3.49%
Next (NXT) 4,114.00p -3.13%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,847.50p -2.76%
TUI Travel (TT.) 309.80p -2.49%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,099.00p -2.48%
Old Mutual (OML) 206.20p -2.46%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 327.10p -2.33%
Glencore International (GLEN) 368.40p -2.27%

NR

Related share prices
Anglo American (AAL) share price
Centrica (CNA) share price
GKN (GKN) share price
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) share price
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) share price
Rio Tinto (RIO) share price
Bunzl (BNZL) share price
Capita (CPI) share price
Intertek Group (ITRK) share price
Kazakhmys (KAZ) share price