Weekly review

The FTSE ended the week down 21.37 points to 6,104.11.

Equity view

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has begun enforcement action against Ryanair over flight disruptions following a judgement from the European court of justice.

Poundland’s merger with 99p Stores is set to go ahead, after being cleared by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday.

Petra Diamonds said full year revenues fell 10% to $425m on the back of lower diamond prices, but managed to declare a maiden dividend declared of 3 cents a share.

Shares in engineer Weir Group have slumped back on Thursday ahead of the company's pending demotion from the FTSE 100, losing some of the ground gained in the last two days.

Kier Group posted a jump in pre-tax profit for the year ended 30 June as revenue rose thanks to a solid performance in all its divisions.

Actuator maker Rotork said a delay in order placement would hit full year profits with revenue now forecast to be £530m-£555m and adjusted operating profit in the range of £120m-£130m.

Technology product distributor Premier Farnell reported a 13.7% fall in interim pre-tax profits to £30.6m as it warned that slowing momentum would mean the company's second half operating profits coming in at lower than forecasts.

Shares in brewer SABMiller surged on Wednesday after it responded to recent press speculation by confirming that Anheuser-Busch InBev has informed the company that it intends to make an offer.

Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to pay £88.4m to settle claims by a US regulator that it sold toxic mortgage-backed securities to now-defunct credit unions, according to a court filing on Tuesday.

A takeover offer by infrastructure group Balfour Beatty for Alkane Energy has been accepted at 36p per share, valuing the independent gas to power producer at £61.4m.

Full-year pre-tax profits at construction firm Galliford Try rose 20% to a record £114m on revenues of £2.43bn, an increase of 31%.

Serco has agreed the sale of its offshore private sector Business Process Outsourcing operations to private equity funds managed by Blackstone for around £250m.

Ladbrokes’ chief financial officer, Ian Bull, is leaving the company ahead of its merger with Gala Coral.

Glencore has raised £1.6bn by placing new shares with institutions and senior management at a small discount in order to pay off some of its debts.

Sky has completed its acquisition of the remaining shares in German pay-TV broadcaster Sky Deutschland.

Gross group sales at online supermarket delivery and retail group Ocado rose 17% to £272m in the third quarter of the year, with average orders per week jumping 16.6% to 190,000.

Pharmaceutical company Shire is reportedly mulling options to sweeten its multi-billion dollar, all-stock offer for US biotechnology group Baxalta by putting cash into shareholders’ hands sooner.

Protection solutions provider Chemring reiterated full-year expectations after reporting a sharp rise in revenue.

Economic news

The UK economy will grow more slowly in 2015 and 2016 than previously expected by analysts at Citi, which means the Monetary Policy Committee is likely to tighten interest rates by less.

Visits to the UK rose four percent in the three months to July 2015, compared to the previous year, according to official statistics.

The case for raising interest rates is some way off and the Bank of England may need to cut rather than hike to support growth and get inflation back to target, the BoE’s chief economist Andy Haldane said in a speech.

The UK housing market appears to have picked up over the summer after “idling in neutral for some while”.

UK retail sales volume increased slightly less than expected in August, official figures released on Thursday showed.

In a written testimony released on Wednesday, Bank of England governor Mark Carney reiterated his belief that the timing of a rate hike in the UK would become clearer around the turn of the year.

Households breathed a sigh of relief in September as falling prices and the sharpest rise for income from employment relieved their strained finances, according to a survey of their finances.

Unemployment in the UK was lower than expected for the three months ending in July, amid stronger wage growth.

Consumer prices in the UK were flat in August versus a year ago, amid a retreat in the price of oil and a washed out summer keeping shoppers away from the high street.

Official government data showed UK house price growth slowing slightly, with a 5.2% increase in the year to July 2015, down from 5.7% the month before.

International events

The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged following its two-day policy meeting on Thursday, as it lowered its estimate of the economy's potential rate of growth and said it was monitoring "developments abroad".

The US Conference Board’s leading economic indicators edged slightly higher in August, data released on Friday showed.

House prices in China rose for the fourth month in a row in August, benefiting from lower mortgage costs and as volatility in financial markets prompted some investors to put their money in property.

Japan’s economic recovery remained on track last month, according to the minutes from the Bank of Japan’s meeting on 6-7 August. The Bank of Japan opted to leave its policy settings unchanged despite expectations from many analysts of further stimulus down the road.

Oil prices will gradually rise to $80 a barrel in 2020, as supply growth outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) weakens.

The US current account deficit narrowed in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.

Construction on new US homes slowed down in August after a strong start to the summer, figures released on Thursday showed.

The number of unemployment benefits claimants in the US fell last week, figures released on Thursday showed.

US homebuilders’ confidence climbed to its highest level in almost a decade in September, figures released on Wednesday showed.

The US consumer price index (CPI) fell last month for the first time since January, figures released on Thursday showed.

US retail sales rose less than expected, data showed on Tuesday, as the Federal Reserve looks for signs of economic improvement ahead of its interest rate decision this week.

Business conditions in the New York region remained weak in September, the New York Federal Reserve said on Tuesday.