London close: Shares lift off on airline merger bid and oil-price revival

London shares soared on Thursday as oil prices staged a slight recovery and merger activity took off in the airline industry.

The FTSE 100 Index closed 129.52 points up at 6,466 after Brent crude bounced to $63 a barrel during the session, although by the market close it had fallen back to just below $60. US light crude was up just under a percentage point at $56.47.

Connor Campbell at spread-betting firm Spreadex said: “Whilst in the grand scheme of things this price is still dismal for the commodity, and oil has indeed slipped from this high as the day went on, the markets grabbed whatever whiff of bullish sentiment they could today and ran with it.”

Upbeat economic data and a positive reaction to comments from the Federal Reserve helped to push UK stocks higher, with markets in positive territory for the third straight day.

Figures showed that UK retail sales surged in November and business confidence in Germany improved.

The Fed didn't remove its “considerable time” language as it kept interest rates on hold, but added that it “can be patient” about tightening.

The Swiss central bank chipped in by slashing the country’s interest rates to protect its currency cap.

Shares lifted off after IAG revealed it had made a takeover approach to rival Aer Lingus, although the Irish flag carrier rejected it. IAG shares ascended 19.9p to 463.5p and Aer Lingus stock flew €0.16 higher to €1.98.

AstraZeneca got a 123.5p shot in the arm to 4572.5p as the drug giant won marketing authorisation from the European Commission for its Lynparza cancer treatment.

Rival GlaxoSmithKline was 31.5p healthier at 1378.5p after its shareholders approved a deal with Swiss firm Novartis, which will see the two groups swap £12.7bn of assets and merge their consumer health businesses.

There was also takeover activity among smaller stocks, with livestock auctioneer John Swan & Sons getting a takeover bid from H&H Group at 1,350p per share. Swan’s shares nearly doubled, rising 625p to 1275p.

Market Movers
techMARK 2,926.70 +2.19%
FTSE 100 6,466.00 +2.04%
FTSE 250 15,732.71 +1.87%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Old Mutual (OML) 189.90p +5.68%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,374.50p +5.59%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 431.40p +5.58%
IMI (IMI) 1,237.00p +5.37%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 975.50p +4.89%
Tesco (TSCO) 175.80p +4.55%
CRH (CRH) 1,533.00p +4.50%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 463.50p +4.49%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,320.00p +4.27%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,216.00p +3.99%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,222.00p -1.61%
Glencore (GLEN) 290.00p -0.84%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 914.50p -0.38%
BT Group (BT.A) 400.80p -0.25%

FTSE 250 - Risers
EnQuest (ENQ) 38.75p +8.76%
Lonmin (LMI) 165.70p +8.37%
Afren (AFR) 41.28p +8.09%
Hunting (HTG) 522.50p +5.88%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 134.10p +5.67%
NMC Health (NMC) 469.00p +5.28%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 123.90p +5.09%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 389.50p +5.01%
Victrex plc (VCT) 2,099.00p +4.95%
Beazley (BEZ) 281.90p +4.95%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,255.00p -5.57%
Foxtons Group (FOXT) 156.20p -4.52%
Drax Group (DRX) 446.30p -3.48%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 231.30p -3.10%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,433.00p -2.72%
Polymetal International (POLY) 588.00p -2.65%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 47.91p -2.46%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 852.50p -2.01%
TSB Banking Group (TSB) 268.70p -1.86%
IP Group (IPO) 208.40p -1.65%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 5.25p +12.90%
Kofax Limited (DI) (KFX) 436.75p +5.75%
Dialight (DIA) 799.50p +1.98%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 89.00p +1.71%
Skyepharma (SKP) 321.50p +1.66%
Promethean World (PRW) 23.12p +1.65%
Ricardo (RCDO) 620.00p +1.64%
Triad Group (TRD) 15.75p +1.61%
Anite (AIE) 79.00p +1.61%
Vectura Group (VEC) 128.25p +0.98%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
DRS Data & Research Services (DRS) 13.50p -3.57%
NCC Group (NCC) 193.00p -1.53%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,384.00p -0.07%