Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week up 80.64 points, or 1.08%, at 7,547.53 on Friday.

Equity view

Hammerson has exchanged contracts for the sale of two retail parks to clients of BMO Real Estate Partners for £80m.

FTSE 250 hospital group Spire Healthcare said on Friday that trading from 1 January to 25 May has been in line with expectations, as it reiterated its 2017 guidance.

Spirax-Sarco Engineering has agreed to buy US-based electrical products provider Chromalox from Irving Place Capital for a cash-free, debt-free consideration of $415m (£319m).

Firing back a response to Tanzanian accusations that it under-declared gold exports, Acacia Mining has called for an independent review and said "we are considering all of our options".

Payment systems provider PayPoint posted its preliminary results for the year to 31 March on Thursday, claiming “good growth” in its core retail networks as gross revenue rose 3. 6% to £203.4m.

Shawbrook announced two deals to expand its mortgage portfolio while expanding into a new segment of the market.

Tate & Lyle reported an 85% jump in full-year pre-tax profit on Thursday, underpinned by a weaker pound and a solid performance from both divisions.

Card Factory hailed "a good start to the year" on Thursday, as it said first-quarter like-for-like store sales were at the upper end of its targeted range of 1% to 3% growth.

Engineering support services group Babcock International reported a rise in full-year pre-tax profit and revenue and lifted its dividend as it expressed confidence it will grow over the medium term.

Vodafone Group, along with Apax Partners Midmarket SAS and Fortino Capital, announced an agreement to combine Melita and Vodafone Malta on Wednesday.

Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl announced on Wednesday that the acquisition of Diversified Distribution Systems, which was initially announced on 1 March, had been completed following clearance of the transaction by the Federal Trade Commission in the US.

Investors in Antofagasta were gathering for the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, as Jean-Paul Luksic prepared to update them on the company’s operations, during a year in which copper price movements turned positive.

Irish convenience food group Greencore reported a rise in first-half pre-tax profit as revenue grew thanks in part to its acquisition of US food company Peacock Foods.

Water supplier Severn Trent declared another chunky dividend and said it planned an enhanced payout for the next three years after spying further efficiencies in the business.

NEX Optimisation, the division of NEX Group which helps clients reduce complexity and optimise resources across the transaction lifecycle, announced on Tuesday that it has restructured to organise the business “in a way that clients want to consume services and address their own financial, regulatory and operational challenges”.

Distribution firm Electrocomponents said full year reported profit before tax quadrupled to £127.1m as it profited from a currency tailwinds and made market share gains in Northern Europe and North America.

Wood Group said it had signed a five year technical support services contract with the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, an operator of Sakhalin-2, one of the world’s largest integrated oil and gas projects, for an undisclosed sum.

Listed infrastructure investment firm HICL Infrastructure Company announced on Monday that it has completed the acquisition of a 36. 6% equity interest in the various entities that comprise the Affinity Water Group, including the regulated entity, Affinity Water Limited.

FTSE 250 inhaler maker Vectura was due to present positive outcomes of its Phase I clinical study on the VR942 inhaled asthma treatment at the American Thoracic Society’s annual conference later on Monday.

Astrazeneca has sold the European rights to a hypertension and angina treatment for a sum of $300m plus royalties and a percentage of sales.

Economic news

Britain is now at its highest level of terror alert following the attack on the Manchester Arena on Monday night, suggesting further attacks may be imminent.

Rare good weather in Britain on Friday led to solar panels supplying one-quarter of the UK demand for electricity for the first time, according to the National Grid.

Sterling took big slides lower on most major crosses Friday as political uncertainty surrounding the upcoming UK general election sparked a wave of selling.

UK car output tanked last month, with the industry blaming the effect of Easter bank holidays and unplanned production changes.

The UK economy grew less than initially estimated in the first quarter as inflation took its toll on spending in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday.

Stocks in London wandered to a positive close on Wednesday as investors embraced a raft of corporate news, and as the market looked to this evening's Federal Reserve minutes release.

Retail sales slowed in the year to May following strong growth in April, coming in broadly flat as rising inflation takes its toll, according to the Confederation of British Industry's latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey.

UK public sector borrowing in April was much higher than expected, according to initial forecast data, though borrowing for the last fiscal year was revised down.

Brexit minister David Davis has warned that negotiations between the UK and the EU will break down if the bloc stands firm on its demand for a €100bn exit bill.

House prices rose for the fifth month in a row in May, according to a new survey that runs counter to recent industry research based on sale completions.

International events

Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's conversations with Russian officials during last year’s presidential election campaign have allegedly become the focus of the FBI probe into alleged Russia links.

America's economy grew more quickly than expected at the start of the year amid a large increase in investment, revised data showed.

According to multiple reports, citing delegates at the OPEC meeting in Vienna, the cartel's members agreed to prolong into March 2018 the November deal which saw them reduce production by 1. 8m barrels a day.

Retail and wholesale inventories Stateside fell in April amid downwards revisions to estimates for the prior month.

Ratings agency Moody's has downgraded China's credit rating for the first time in 30 years as fears grow that the Asian superpower's economy will experience a major slowdown.

The recent improvement in European business confidence surveys was not just the result of the psychological boost to sentiment from the French elections, UniCredit Research said.

German business confidence improved more than expected in May, according to a widely-followed survey.

US President Donald Trump has delivered his budget proposal to Congress, showing trillions of dollars of cuts to federal spending, including to healthcare and food assistance programs.

Europe's single currency is too cheap, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, helping to send the greenback to its lowest levels since early October.

Mark Fields will be replaced as chief executive of US auto giant Ford Motor, with the head of the company's autonomous driving unit Jason Hackett taking over the reins, the Detroit company announced on Monday.