FTSE finishes week 114 points lower despite two days of rises
Aviva was top of the index after speculation of a takeover bid.
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Your support makes all the difference.London’s FTSE 100 index managed to pull off a second straight day of gains, but a bruising week left it down by more than 100 points as traders went home on Friday.
Led by the insurance sector amid rumours of a takeover bid for Aviva, the index ended the week at 7,494.58, up 43.04 points or 0.6%.
It leaves it 113.5 points short of where the index started the week.
Several rivals are apparently interested in potentially making a bid for the insurance giant, the Times reported.
For a while during the afternoon, it looked like the FTSE might end in the red for the fourth time in a week, but it managed to bounce back from a mid-afternoon slump.
“European stock indices were initially dragged lower by their US counterparts as the country’s economy added nearly twice as many jobs as expected in September, the most in eight months,” said Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at online trading platform IG.
“They recovered towards the end of the session on short-covering ahead of the weekend, though.
“Next week traders will focus on German industrial production, US inflation and UK GDP.”
By the end of play, the German Dax index had gained 1.1% while France’s Cac 40 was up 0.9%.
In New York both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones were trading up 0.7% shortly after European markets closed.
In company news, pub chain Wetherspoon said that higher food sales had returned it to a profit during the year to the end of July.
The business said that sales were up 10.6% to £1.9 billion during the period, with pre-tax profit hitting £42.6 million, up from a loss of £30.4 million a year earlier.
Experts said that the pub chain, which is generally cheaper than many of its rivals, will have benefited from customers looking for a less expensive pint.
Shares had dipped 6% by the end of the day.
Elsewhere De La Rue, which makes banknotes, said that its adjusted operating profit is now expected to be “marginally ahead of guidance” thanks to early signs of a recovery in its currency business.
Shares in the business closed up 1.3%.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Aviva, up 20.7p to 409p, Legal & General, up 6.7p to 217.1p, B&M European, up 16.8p to 577.4p, Entain, up 22.6p to 927.6p, and Ashtead, up 118p to 4,897p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Rentokil, down 15.8p to 587.4p, Unilever, down 105p to 3,925.5p, CocaCola HBC, down 55p to 2,128p, Vodafone, down 1.3p to 74.8p, and Reckitt, down 92p to 5,728p.