ITV/easyJet, Weir and Finsbury Food

Blue-chips opened on the front foot following gains in Asia this morning and Friday's improvement on Wall Street,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

ITV and easyJet went in opposite directions on the FTSE100 after the airline’s chief executive Carolyn McCall was named as the broadcaster’s new boss. McCall, who has built and led the management team that has transformed easyJet's performance in the past seven years, sees amazing opportunities for ITV and will take up her role there in early January. ITV topped the FTSE100 in early trading with its shares up by more than 1.8% while easyJet was one of the biggest fallers, down by over 0.7%.

Engineering group Weir’s shares rose strongly after it forecast better-than-expected operating profits. Upstream North American markets have recovered more strongly than formerly anticipated in recent weeks and the group’s oil and gas division is also benefiting from higher levels of frack fleet utilisation and significant tightening of industry capacity. Weir’s shares were up by more than 6.1%.

Finsbury Food’s shares slipped in early trading despite a slight increase in total like-for-like sale in the year to the beginning of July. The group was bolstered by its 50%-owned European business which offset a fall in its UK bakery division where like-for-like sales were down by 1.4%. Finsbury Food’s shares were down by over 1.7%.

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