IAG, Lloyds help FTSE cling on to record peak

By Francesco Canepa

LONDON (Reuters) – Strong results from British Airways-owner International Airlines Group and Lloyds Banking Group helped Britain’s top share index cling on to record highs on Friday.

Shares in IAG surged 4.6 percent to the top of the FTSE 100 <.FTSE> and set an all-time high after the group upgraded its 2015 profit forecast by more than 20 percent, helped by lower fuel costs and as it grows capacity.

Lloyds rose 1.1 percent after reporting a better-than-expected rise in profit, allowing the partly state-owned firm to pay its first dividend for six years.

Anglo-South African financial services firm Old Mutual also gained, up 1.4 percent, after reporting a 16 percent rise in its 2014 operating profit, helped by improving economic growth in Britain and the United States.

The FTSE 100 was flat at 6,947.85 points at 0846 GMT after setting a fresh all-time high at 6,960 points in early deals. On the last trading day of February, the index is up 3 percent for the month

“It has had a good run and it’s the end of the month so I think we’re going to see it drift lower today as people book some profit,” Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital, said.

Keeping a lid on FTSE gains, Intu Properties Plc fell 2.2 percent after the shopping centre owner posted its third consecutive yearly decline in net rental income.

Royal Bank of Scotland , which said on Thursday it would shrink its investment banking operations drastically, fell 1.8 percent, after a downgrade at Societe Generale.

“This deleveraging process improves the balance sheet metrics…but also leaves the bank with mediocre returns,” analysts at the French bank wrote in a note.

“This is bad for equity and we cut our equity rating to sell (from neutral).”

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; Editing by Toby Chopra)

IAG, Lloyds help FTSE cling on to record peak