Weekly review
The FTSE 100 finished the week 186.19 points higher at 7,490.23.
Equity view
Rare disease specialist Shire announced on Friday that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan has granted manufacturing and marketing authorisation for its ‘FIRAZYR’ icatibant injection, for the acute treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) attacks in adult patients with HAE.
SIG blamed a 22% fall in profits in the first half of the year on poor weather and fewer people moving home as the building products supplier said it was accelerating its transformation process to meet full year targets.
Lloyd’s of London returned to profit in the first half of 2018 as the insurance market recovered from a series of catastrophes that hit its members in late 2017.
Smiths Group returned to growth last year as underlying revenue increased but currency swings and reclassification of costs sent reported annual profit down 8%.
Construction, services and property group Kier posted a rise in underlying full-year pre-tax profit on Thursday thanks to a solid performance from all of its divisions.
British American Tobacco’s chief executive Nicandro Durante will retire next April after eight years in charge in which he turned BAT into the world’s biggest listed cigarette company.
Inmarsat announced on Thursday that itself and Panasonic Avionics Corporation have agreed a strategic collaboration, for an initial 10-year period, that would enable them to combine their “highly complementary” services to offer broadband in-flight connectivity (IFC),paired with high-value solutions and services to customers in the commercial aviation industry worldwide.
UK Commercial Property REIT announced its interim results for the half-year ended 30 June on Thursday, reporting a net asset value total return of 3.9%, which it said was driven by capital value growth and achieved with a limited gearing of 11.9%.
Sainsbury's merger with Asda has been referred to an in-depth probe by competition regulators with a deadline of March next year.
NewRiver has signed an asset management agreement with Canterbury City Council for the asset management of Whitefriars Shopping Centre, it announced on Wednesday.
Balfour Beatty has sold its 50% stake in Fife Hospital for £43m in cash to Semperian PPP Investment Partners, which will result in a profit of £22m for the FTSE 250 infrastructure group.
Engineering services company Babcock International said on Wednesday that it is trading in line with its expectations, the order book and pipeline are strong and its outlook for the year is unchanged.
BBA Aviation has announced the acquisition of Firstmark, an aerospace focused aftermarket service provider, for $97m.
Paragon Banking Group updated the market on its trading on Tuesday, ahead of its 30 September year-end, reporting that it had continued to operate in line with its own expectations.
Ocado kept up the pace of growth in the third quarter as its fourth and most-technologically advanced robot-operated warehouse quickly got up to speed.
Aviva has successfully completed its share buyback programme, it announced on Tuesday.
IP Group has appointed Sir Douglas Flint as non-executive chairman and director of the company.
Dairy Crest said strong sales from its largest cheese and butter brands will mean first half revenues will churn higher than last year, with full year numbers on track thanks to a pipeline of new products.
St. Modwen Properties announced the appointment of Danuta Gray as a non-executive director and chair-designate with effect from 1 October on Monday.
Sirius Minerals announced the signing of a take-or-pay supply agreement between its wholly-owned subsidiary York Potash, OFD Supply and Cibrafertil Companhia Brasileira de Fertilizantes - the Cibra Group - for the supply and resale of POLY4 into Brazil and certain other countries in South America.
Economic news
Cabinet minister Chris Grayling warned that a no-deal Brexit was on the cards if the European Union did not soften its position regarding the Irish border.
Britain's Labour party has pledged to ban certain types of gambling advertising if it wins the next general election.
UK retail sales unexpectedly jumped last month, with increases across all sectors except food and clothing.
Workers from Wetherspoons, McDonalds and TGI Fridays have taken unexpected action to fight “poverty wages” and are set to strike together next month.
London house prices have fallen by the most in almost a decade, official figures showed, at odds with the slow-and-steady growth in overall UK house prices.
UK inflation jumped unexpectedly last month, according to official data released on Wednesday, triggering a jump in the pound to an eight-week high against the dollar.
EU immigrants should not receive preferential treatment after Brexit, according a report published by the government’s migration advisory committee on Tuesday.
The Treasury could lose over £100m for every year it postpones slashing the highest-permitted stake on fixed-odds betting terminals, a report from the Centre for Economic and Business Research has found.
UK house prices bounced back in September, according to the latest data from Rightmove.
There were two chilling warnings for the government on Monday as the International Monetary Fund warned that a 'no-deal' Brexit would be likely to lead to a recession for the UK economy, while the British Chambers of Commerce warned of further slower growth for this year and next.
International events
Business growth in the eurozone eased in September as trade war concerns and political uncertainty hit exports, according to preliminary data released on Friday.
Factory sector activity in the US mid-Atlantic region bounced back sharply in September on the back of a big increase in firms' new orders, according to the results of a widely-followed survey.
Sales of US existing homes were steady in August, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.
Chief of the European Council Donald Tusk, said on Thursday that Theresa May's proposed new economic partnership with the EU "will not work" as it risks undermining the EU's single market.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under increasing pressure to agree to a compromise on Nafta with the Trump administration, according to reports.
Homebuilding in the States picked-up substantially last month, but a key forward-looking indicator fell short of analysts' forecasts.
US President Donald Trump has confirmed he will impose new 10% tariffs on Chinese imports worth $200bn from next Monday, 24 September.
Beijing struck back at Donald Trump’s latest round of trade tariffs on Tuesday, imposing their own sanctions on $60bn worth of US goods.
Sentiment among US housebuilders was steady in September, according to data released on Tuesday.
Business conditions in the New York region deteriorated in September, according to a survey from the New York Fed.