Weekly Review

The FTSE 100 finished up 20.22 points on the week at 6,742.84.

Equity view

Oil and gas firm BG Group announced it has revised the £25m remuneration package for its new chief executive after pressure from shareholders.

John Laing Infrastructure Fund this week made a £1bn proposal to Balfour Beatty for its public-private partnership portfolio. The infrastructure company rejected the approach, saying it “falls significantly short of its own view of the value of the portfolio".

Ireland-based oil producer Dragon Oil decided not to proceed with its proposed takeover of sector peer Petroceltic due to weak market conditions.

Morgan Advanced Materials announced that metal flow engineer and developer Vesuvius does not intend to make a formal offer.

Annual underlying profits at asset manager Aberdeen inched higher in the year to 30 September despite a "more challenging environment", as the company hiked its dividend by over a tenth.

Insurance giant Aviva agreed a £5.6bn takeover of rival Friends Life in a deal giving the latter's shareholders just over a quarter of the combined group.

Accountancy software group Sage hailed higher annual profits and the achievement of key financial milestones for 2014 and said it was on track to hit financial targets for 2015.

London Stock Exchange Group has completed the acquisition of Frank Russell Company, marking a "significant step for the company".

Ladbrokes is looking to replace its chief executive Richard Glynn, who was given the task of implementing a recovery programme within five years following his appointment in 2010.

Travel tour operator TUI Travel met expectations with a small rise in annual profits and painted a positive outlook for the winter and upcoming summer season ahead of its planned merger with parent group TUI AG.

IAG said traffic as measured by revenue passenger kilometres rose at an annual rate of 5.9% last month to 15,342m.

Easyjet increased passenger numbers by 3.1% to 4,386,296 in November against the same month in 2013.

Budget airline Ryanair has lifted its full-year profit forecast after more business travel helped it to rack up stronger-than-expected passenger numbers in November.

The UK energy watchdog has fined Centrica's British Gas £11.1m for failing to hit energy savings and carbon emission reduction targets on time.

Economic news

UK high street sales growth stayed completely flat in the month to November, BDO's monthly High Street Sales Tracker revealed on Friday.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced it would maintain its main policy interest rate at 0.5%.

UK house price growth slowed by less than expected in November, mortgage lender Halifax said on Thursday. In terms of quarterly rates of change the increase in house prices moderated to an 8.2% year-on-year pace last month, from the 8.8% seen in October, to hit £186,941.

The number of new car registrations rose in November as consumer confidence continued to build, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said on Thursday.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne on Wednesday raised the economic growth forecast for the UK this year to 3% from 2.7% predicted in March, but said borrowing was set to rise.

The British Retail Consortium revealed that food prices dropped in November for the first time in eight years as price competition between supermarkets intensified.

British construction activity dropped to its slowest rate of expansion in more than a year in November, according to data from Markit/CIPS.

International events

Eurozone retail sales returned to growth in October showing a 0.4% month-on-month rise in sales, driven by lower fuel prices along with downcast inflation and interest rates.

Manufacturing sector growth in the US eased ever so slightly in November, alongside a sharp drop in a measure of the prices paid by companies.

German's central bank, the Bundesbank, downgraded its growth forecast for the country's economy to 1% in 2015.

The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday decided to maintain policy but the decision was not unanimous, president Mario Draghi said.

Initial weekly US unemployment claims fell by 17,000 over the seven days ended on 29 November, to reach 297,000, according to the Department of Labor.

Eurozone retail sales continued to fall in November, marking the fifth consecutive month of decline, Markit revealed on Thursday.

The Federal Reserve painted a broadly upbeat picture in its latest Beige Book on Wednesday, saying that while wage growth is still subdued, job gains were "widespread" across the country.

Manufacturing sector growth in the US eased ever so slightly in November, alongside a sharp drop in a measure of the prices paid by companies.

The Japanese government now faces a greater risk of rising sovereign bond yields and hence lower debt affordability over the medium-term, ratings agency Moody's said on Monday.

The rate of growth in Chinese factory output slowed to an eight-month low in November, according to the government's official figures released on Monday.