London close: Stocks carried higher by upbeat Wall Street mood

London stocks made a late surge on Friday as the pound could not regained ground and Wall Street looked to finish the week on the front foot.

The FTSE 100 finished up 23.58 points or 0.31% at 7,724.55, up almost 3% over the week, as the pound could not hold onto its earlier gains against the dollar, finishing around 0.2% higher at 1.3551 and gave up earlier ground on the euro to end flat at 1.1344.

Speaking to BBC radio in the morning, BoE deputy governor Ben Broadbent denied that the central bank was sending out mixed messages on interest rates: "We have given some guidance that we are going to raise rates over the next few years but that has never been a promise that we are going to raise rates at a particular point in time," he said.

"If you read what we said in the early part of the year it was clearly a conditional statement. It says if the economy turns out in line with the forecast then interest rate rises may come sooner than people expected."

Market analysts Chris Beauchamp at IG said momentum was taking over for investors. "Equities continue to exhibit signs of strength, buoyed by a strong earnings season and valuations that have reminded investors of the compelling fundamental outlook. Investors should take heart from the resilience equities have shown as geopolitical tensions rise, and signs that stock can weather the storms of Iran, North Korea and others should encourage fresh flows into equity markets."

Looking at next week, all Beauchamp could find was oil data and German economic data. "The latter is especially important, given the recent weakness in the eurozone. As earnings season diminishes in importance, markets will cast around for other reasons to worry, but the solid performance of equities in recent weeks should send a signal to investors that the bull market is reasserting itself."

In corporate news, Zoopla and PrimeLocation owner ZPG rocketed after agreeing to be bought by US private equity firm Silver Lake Management for 490p per share in cash, or £2.2bn. Rightmove and Auto Trader also gained on positive read-across from the deal.

BBA Aviation rose after saying its trading performance in the first quarter remained in line with expectations, with revenue for the period up 9.7% year-on year, reflecting good organic growth in its Signature division.

3i Infrastructure was higher as it hailed an "outstanding" year, with net asset value up 28.6%, while Wood Group racked up strong gains after saying it was seeing good momentum in trading.

Paragon Banking nudged up after announcing the appointment of senior independent director Fiona Clutterbuck as its new chairman with effect from 10 May, succeeding Bob Dench.

On the downside, AstraZeneca slipped after saying that a late-stage trial for its first respiratory biologic drug failed to meet its primary goal in treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Interserve fell as the City watchdog's enforcement division launched an investigation into the company’s handling of inside information and its disclosures to the market over its troublesome exit from the energy-from-waste business.

Embattled retailer Carpetright was in the red as it said it has agreed a £15m unsecured loan from its biggest shareholder, Meditor, ahead of its planned £60m equity placing next week.

In broker note action, ITV was lifted by strong broker write-ups following its results a day earlier, with JP Morgan Cazenove highlighting its "strategic value".

Bakery chain Greggs was lower after Berenberg downgraded the stock to ‘hold’. Severn Trent was under the cosh as Bernstein cut the stock to ‘underperform’ from ‘market perform’, along with United Utilities where analysts cut their price target.

Renishaw fell after a downgrade to ‘reduce’ at Peel Hunt and EasyJet was lifted to ‘buy’ by Goodbody. RBS was upgraded to ‘hold’ at Societe Generale and Rathbone Brothers was bumped up to ‘buy’ at Canaccord.

InterContinental Hotels was downgraded to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, while G4S was lifted to ‘outperform’ at Exane.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,726.05 0.33%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,785.43 0.42%
techMARK (TASX) 3,493.33 -0.03%

FTSE 100 - Risers

ITV (ITV) 172.00p 7.27%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,890.00p 3.81%
G4S (GFS) 270.40p 3.80%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,859.40p 3.29%
Royal Mail (RMG) 631.00p 3.21%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 294.10p 2.65%
Glencore (GLEN) 386.10p 2.63%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,711.20p 2.50%
BAE Systems (BA.) 634.40p 2.49%
Evraz (EVR) 512.40p 2.23%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

DCC (DCC) 7,290.00p -2.28%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,976.00p -2.18%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 766.40p -1.89%
BT Group (BT.A) 217.00p -1.83%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,750.00p -1.61%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,940.50p -1.60%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,860.00p -1.40%
Experian (EXPN) 1,736.00p -1.25%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 7,105.00p -1.18%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,768.00p -1.16%

FTSE 250 - Risers

ZPG Plc (ZPG) 491.60p 31.02%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 648.40p 10.38%
IWG (IWG) 252.00p 10.28%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 260.00p 5.69%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 345.50p 4.25%
Rightmove (RMV) 4,779.00p 3.82%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 239.50p 3.68%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 779.24p 3.51%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 491.20p 3.24%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 240.60p 3.08%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Purecircle Limited (DI) (PURE) 357.50p -5.67%
Superdry (SDRY) 1,188.00p -4.96%
Renishaw (RSW) 5,275.00p -4.44%
Capita (CPI) 123.20p -4.16%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 32.96p -3.29%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 240.50p -2.63%
Alfa Financial Software Holdings (ALFA) 337.00p -2.32%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 228.60p -2.22%
Sanne Group (SNN) 620.00p -2.21%
Aggreko (AGK) 715.20p -1.97%