Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week down 269.68 points to 5,952.78.

Equity view

Standard Chartered has raised £3.3bn through a rights issue of new stock to boost its balance sheet amid a slowdown in China's economy, the Asia-focused bank revealed on Friday.

Beleaguered platinum miner Lonmin reported a 71% take-up of its heavily-discounted $407m (£269m) right issue.

Infrastructure group John Laing said it is on track to achieve its full year targets. In a pre-close update for the year to the end of December, the company reported total investment commitments to date of £170m, at the upper end of the £150m to £175m range announced at the interims.

Shares in International Personal Finance tanked on Friday after the company said it could be hurt by new legislation in Slovakia

Legal & General has announced it will cease quarterly reporting in 2016 following regulatory changes that remove the requirement for interim management statements.

Housebuilder Bellway said it expects total completions and average selling prices to rise in the full year as it reported an "excellent" start to the current financial year.

Ladbrokes has appointed Richard Snow as acting chief financial officer to cover ahead of the Coral merger.

Lloyds Banking Group shares popped higher on Thursday after the bank said it has won an appeal to buy back high-interest bonds early.

Glencore has revealed it is examining a potential initial public offer (IPO) of the commodity group's agriculture business and has been in talks about the potential sale of some infrastructure assets.

Luxury handbag maker Mulberry said it swung back into profit in the first half as revenue rose and the group’s strategy began to bear fruit

David Lowden has been appointed as chairman of Michael Page International.

Whitbread’s third quarter has seen a 104% increase in sales, driven by strong growth in Premier Inn.

Personal care and beauty products maker PZ Cussons has maintained a flat performance in the first six months of its financial year but warned that risks remained about its key market of Nigeria.

Peppa Pig owner Entertainment One confirmed that the company continues to trade in line with full year underlying earnings expectations, as it responded to recent weakness in its share price.

Carillion said it was on track to meet full year targets with strong revenue growth expected to help produce operating profits in line with expectations.

Transport operator Stagecoach said the Paris terror attacks in November has discouraged people from travelling and led the company to slightly revise full year earnings downwards.

Anglo American said it will suspend its dividend to investors this year and the next as it announced a "radical" portfolio restructuring and further material costs savings and capex reductions to combat declining commodity prices.

Three major UK insurers said they had received approval to use their internal models to comply with the new European-wide Solvency II requirements to protect against financial shocks.

Economic news

The International Monetary Fund commended the UK's economic growth but warned that the referendum on the European Union would throw uncertainty into the mix, weighing on the outlook.

Consumers' expectations for UK inflation over the coming year were unchanged in November at 2%, a survey by the Bank of England and GfK revealed.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee kept its main policy rate and the size of its asset purchase facility unchanged at 0.50% and £375bn, respectively, as economists had expected.

The UK's trade deficit widened much more than expected in October, with the £4.1bn much wider than the £1.8bn forecast and £1.1bn the previous month due to a greater imports of goods.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its house price balance nudged down to +49 in November, better than the +48 expected by analysts but lower than the upwardly revised +50 the previous month.

The British Chambers of Commerce cut its outlook for UK growth this year and beyond, as it pointed to recent weak trade and manufacturing figures

The UK economy grew 06% in the three months to November, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research on Tuesday.

UK retail sales fell 04% on a like-for-like basis in November from the same month last year, when they had risen 09% from 2013, according to a survey by the British Retail Consortium and accountants KPMG.

UK manufacturing output slid 0.4% month-on-month in October, compared with an upwardly revised 0.9% gain in September and with analysts’ expectations for a 0.2% decline, the ONS revealed.

UK industrial output climbed 0.1% month-on-month in October compared with stagnant growth in the previous month and in line with analysts’ expectations, ONS said.

According to figure released by mortgage lender Halifax, UK house prices fell 0.2% month-on-month in November compared with an upwardly revised 1% gain in the previous month and analysts’ expectations for a 0.2% advance.

The recovery in Britain's economy is on track, but it will grow more slowly next year as the tighter fiscal purse strings and monetary policy stance leave their mark and uncertainty about the outcome of the UK's referendum clouds the outlook, Morgan Stanley expected.

International events

China may be laying the groundwork for untying the yuan from the value of the US dollar. An editorial posted to the People’s Bank of China's website on Friday argued it made more sense to measure the value of the yuan versus that of a basket of currencies instead of just the US dollar's, The Wall Street Journal reported.

US retail sales rose 0.2% month-on-month in November to $448.1bn, according to the Department of Commerce, missing analysts’ forecasts of 0.3%.

The University of Michigan’s preliminary estimate on the consumer confidence index rose to 91.8 in December from 91.3 in November, below estimates for a reading of 92.

Chinese banks issued 708.9bn yuan ($110.10bn) of new yuan loans in November compared with 513.6 trn yuan in October, according to data released by the People's Bank of China.

The number of first time unemployment benefits claimants in the US rose to a five-month high last week.

Opec said crude production from its members has risen to a three-year high in November and the Middle East oil cartel also raised its 2015 oil demand forecast.

The Swiss National Bank kept its main policy rate unchanged at -0.75% on Thursday, as analysts had expected.

Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang, chairman of investment behemoth Fosun Group and known as the 'Warren Buffett of China', has gone missing according to local media.

South Africa’s president on Wednesday evening fired the country’s finance minister, Nhlanhla Nene, a decision that weighed on financial assets from the country, including shares of London-listed Old Mutual and Investec

The cost of living in China rebounded in November as poor weather impacted food prices and deflationary pressures in the transport sector eased. The country's consumer price index advanced at a 1.5% year-on-year pace last month, picking up from a reading of 1.3% in the prior month. Economists had been expecting a smaller acceleration, to 1.4%.

US job openings fell short of expectations in October, data released on Tuesday showed.

Sales of Chinese goods abroad continued to retreat in November, testifying to still weak global growth, but imports shrank less rapidly than had been expected, hinting at a better tone to domestic demand, analysts said.