Weekly review

The FTSE 100 finished the week up 57.43 points to 7,011.64.

Equity view

Centrica published a trading update on Thursday, prior to entering its close period on 1 January, saying it was continuing to make good progress against its strategic priorities and now expected to exceed the 2016 targets originally set out at its 2015 preliminary results.

Distribution and outsourcing company Bunzl expects revenue to increase for the year thanks to several acquisitions and after slow growth in the first three quarters.

Just Eat will fork out up to £240m to gobble up its main UK rival Hungryhouse from Germany's Delivery Hero and for afters has tucked into Canada's SkipTheDishes for up to £120m.

Royal Dutch Shell’s chief financial officer Simon Henry will retire after more than seven years in the role, to be succeeded by Jessica Uhl, who will take on the job with effect from 9 March.

GVC Holdings expects pro-forma net gaming revenue for the year to the end of December and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to be at the upper end of forecasts as the company’s strong trading performance has continued through the fourth quarter.

In light of the ongoing industrial disputes over its Govia Thameslink rail franchises, Go-Ahead Group has warned that full year revenues will be slightly lower and costs higher.

An £18.5bn agreement has been reached for 21st Century Fox’s full takeover of broadcaster Sky.

Software product group Micro Focus International announced its unaudited interim results for the six months to 31 October on Wednesday, with revenues of $684. 7m, 14. 2% higher than the prior year's constant currency figures.

While the oil and gas market remained “challenging” during 2016, Wood Group expects its performance for the fiscal year to be in line with expectations and intends to increase the dividend by a double digit percentage.

Online retailer Boohoo. com upgraded its guidance for full-year 2017 on the back of a strong trading performance, as it announced the acquisition of a majority stake in fashion brand PrettyLittleThing.

Central and Eastern Europe-focused budget airline Wizz Air said chief financial officer Sonia Jerez Burdeus has resigned to relocate back to Spain.

Drivers at Argos’s main distribution centre had voted on Tuesday to strike during the Christmas period due to a pay dispute.

FTSE 250 housebuilder Bellway reported a 7% jump in reservations in the 18-week period to 4 December and said it expects housing completions for the year to the end of July 2017 to rise by 5%.

FTSE 250 energy services provider Hunting said on Tuesday that results for the full-year 2016 are likely to be in line with expectations, adding that earnings should move into positive territory next year.

In a short trading statement short on finer details, infrastructure construction group Balfour Beatty said it expected to finish the year with a positive cash balance as it completes the first phase of chief executive Leo Quinn's two-year turnaround process.

Cyber-security expert NCC Group has come clean on the details of an expected profit shortfall arising from losses and delays of several contracts in the core IT assurance division.

Tesco grew its market share in the last three months, according to grocery market data released on Tuesday that also showed its listed supermarket rivals Sainsbury's and Morrisons both saw sales fall.

Old Mutual will float two thirds of its asset management business on the London Stock Exchange for what is expected to be around $1.1bn and then continue to reduce it holdings, using the proceeds for “general corporate purposes”.

Anglo American's De Beers arm sold $418m of rough diamonds in its tenth sales cycle of 2016, despite a slowdown in the trade in lower-value rough diamonds due to India's demonetisation programme.

Carpetright posted a 42% slump in pre-tax profit for the 26 weeks ended 29 October as revenue fell amid uneven consumer demand and as the company took a hit from the weakening of the pound versus the euro.

Barclays has agreed to sell its French retail banking, wealth and investment management business to private equity group AnaCap for an undisclosed fee.

Economic news

In a further indication of UK shopper's switch to online stores, the decline in footfall deepened in November but not as badly as some had feared, according to BRC figures.

Factory output in Britain picked up sharply in December alongside a sharp jump in price expectations, CBI revealed in its industrial trends survey.

UK retail sales growth slowed in November from the previous month’s 14-year high as an increase in fuel prices offset strong Black Friday sales, the ONS revealed.

The Bank of England on Thursday voted unanimously to stand pat on policy measures, saying little has changed since November's inflation report.

While the UK unemployment rate remained flat at 4. 8% in October and wages spiked, more timely official figures on Wednesday showed a fall in the claimant count which led some economists to say that cracks were beginning to appear in the labour market.

UK house prices grew 0. 1% in the year to October, recovering slightly after the fall in the wake of the Brexit vote, the ONS said.

UK inflation increased more sharply than expected in November to the highest level in over two years, according to official figures released on Tuesday. Consumer price inflation rose to 1.2% in the year to November, following a surprise fall to 0.9% in October from 1% in September.

House prices are to rise by 2% in 2017 while prices stabilised after June’s Brexit vote, according to property website Rightmove.

International events

Eurozone inflation edged up to 0.6% year-on-year in November from 0.5% in October, Eurostat confirmed.

US inflation rose 0.2% in November on the month, slowing from 0.4% growth in October, although on an annualised basis consumer prices edged up to 1.7% from 1.6%.

The US current account deficit continued to decline during the third quarter of the year thanks mainly to a lower shortfall in the country's trade in goods.

The US central bank hiked the range for its main policy rate by 25 basis points to between 0. 50% and 0. 75% and appeared to signal that more interest rate increases were in the pipeline for 2017 than it did at its meeting in September, when it last published projections.

US retail sales barely rose in November following two months of strong gains, the Commerce Department revealed on Wednesday.

Oil prices shot higher on Monday after non-OPEC producers agreed to reduce their own output in parallel to the cut announced by the oil cartel on 30 November.