LONDON (ShareCast) - Insurer Prudential impressed the market on Tuesday after the insurer's US and Asia businesses helped to boost group operating profits by a better-than-expected 17% to £1.52bn in the first half, despite a drop in UK annuity sales sparked by government pension changes.

Oil stocks such as Shell, BP and Tullow were out of favour after the International Energy Agency cut its forecast for oil demand growth this year. Shell was among the worst performers on the news that it is set to cut around 250 jobs at its onshore North Sea oil operations in Aberdeen.

Sports Direct International was making decent gains after it was reported that non-food sales held up well in July, though falling food sales led to a decline in total UK retail sales. As such, share prices of supermarket peers Tesco, J Sainsbury and Wm Morrison were in the red.

RSA Insurance was in demand after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock from 'underperform' to 'neutral', saying that the stock's valuation is not demanding.

In contrast, financial services group Hargreaves Lansdown slumped after UBS initiated coverage of the stock with a 'sell' rating, saying that the "risk-reward [is] significantly skewed to the downside".

FTSE 100 - Risers
Sports Direct International (SPD) 677.00p +2.27%
Prudential (PRU) 1,358.00p +1.42%
Barclays (BARC) 219.10p +1.32%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,745.00p +1.10%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,032.00p +0.98%
Pearson (PSON) 1,130.00p +0.89%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 334.10p +0.88%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,790.00p +0.79%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,268.00p +0.79%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 428.80p +0.75%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,056.00p -2.31%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,952.00p -1.60%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,577.00p -1.59%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,010.00p -1.46%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,488.50p -1.43%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 894.50p -1.32%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,705.00p -1.24%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,371.50p -1.15%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 165.00p -1.08%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,687.00p -0.94%

BC

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