Weekly review

The FTSE 100 finished the week up 79.65 points, or 1.08%, at 7,452.91.

Equity view

On Monday, Balfour Beatty and Carillion were awarded contracts as part of a £6.6bn allocation from the UK government as part of the High Speed Two (HS2) rail project from London to Birmingham.

After Carillion's massive profit warning the week before, Kier and Eiffage assured the government that they can step in to deliver on the HS2 project should their partner in the joint venture fall short of its obligations.

Confirming the rumours ITV said it has poached Carolyn McCall from easyJet to be its new chief executive.

Centrica and Stadtwerke München (SWM) agreed to combine Centrica's European oil and gas exploration and production business with Bayerngas Norge to form a new joint venture.

Weir said its full-year outlook was for strong constant currency revenue and profit growth, with revenues and operating profits in the oil & gas division set to be above the upper end of analysts' estimates as upstream North American markets have recovered more strongly than anticipated in recent weeks.

Lonmin shares surged as it reported a 3.8% jump in production on the year in the quarter to 30 June.

Polymetal International said it had agreed to buy an additional 7% in the joint venture Nezhdaninskoye gold deposit for $8m from its partner Ivan Kulakov along with an option to buy out the remaining 75. 3%.

On Tuesday, Royal Mail reported continued strong sales from European parcels in the first quarter offset a decline from its UK business, though for the full year management kept cost and cash targets unchanged.

Rio Tinto cut full-year iron ore shipment guidance after volumes in the second quarter were lower than expected due to rail maintenance and poor weather.

Information services company Experian reported total revenue growth of 5% in its first quarter on Tuesday, driven primarily by a 17% surge in revenue in Latin America, as well as 8% growth in North America and 5% in the EMEA-Asia Pacific regions.

Dairy Crest said trading in the first quarter was in line with expectations and the company's outlook for the full year remains unchanged.

British Land announced a £300m buyback, saying opportunities investment in the company's shares at the prevailing discount “offers better value than further asset acquisitions”.

Spread-betting and CFD broker IG Group revealed that it grew annual profits more than expected even though as it bumped up spending on marketing to grow its customer base amid a widespread regulatory toughening.

Specialty pharmaceutical group Allergy Therapeutics said revenues for its full-year were now expected to be ahead of market expectations and £64. 1m, which would be a sizeable rise from £48. 5m in 2016.

On Wednesday, Reckitt Benckiser said it has agreed to sell its food business for $4. 2bn (£3. 2bn) to Schwartz spices owner McCormick.

GlaxoSmithKline was in focus amid reports the pharmaceuticals giant is looking to sell off its Horlicks business, which was later confirmed by boss Emma Walmsley on Friday.

Defence, security and aerospace-focussed science and engineering company QinetiQ Group saw “slower than expected” orders in its EMEA services division in the first quarter, amid a “dynamic” trading environment in the wake of the UK General Election.

RPC Group, the plastic packaging specialist, reported first-quarter sales and profits ahead of last year's and intends to begin a £100m share buyback programme.

Power plant operator Drax increased operating profits by more than 70% in the first half of the year but slumped to a pre-tax loss after increases to depreciation and amortisation costs and unrealised losses on derivative contracts.

Equipment rental firm Ashtead agreed to buy Canadian rental equipment provider CRS Contractors Rental Supply for an initial cash consideration of CAD275m.

BHP Billiton saw mixed results in its production numbers for the year to 30 June, with petroleum down 13% to 208 MMboe, copper off 16% at 1,326 kt, and metallurgical coal production 6% softer at 40 Mt.

Revenues at TalkTalk fell in the three months to the end of June as strong growth in its corporate and wholesale broadband revenues was offset by a drop in consumer revenues.

Aviva has agreed to sell Friends Provident International (FPIL), a unit focused on high-net-worth clients in Asia and the Middle East, for £340m to RL360, a subsidiary of International Financial Group.

Water company Severn Trent lifted its guidance for its business services division on Wednesday following the sale of its North American business.

On Thursday, EasyJet reported a “strong” performance in its third quarter and upgraded its profit guidance but admitted revenue per seat would decline by 2% across the second half as a whole.

Sports Direct shares rallied as investors welcomed stronger-than-expected full-year revenue and a more upbeat outlook than anticipated, even as underlying pre-tax profit fell nearly 60%, mostly on the back of the weaker pound.

Moneysupermarket.com reported a 3% rise in adjusted operating profit for six months to the end of June but warned on Thursday that operating profit will be at the lower end of the consensus range for the full year.

Ashtead, the US-focused equipment rental group, was given a boost on Thursday by strong results and market commentary from US peer United Rentals.

BP has begun talks to sell its North Sea oil and gas production assets, according to reports.

First-half earnings from Unilever were stronger than expected and the consumer goods colossus increased its guidance for full year profit margins as the results of its new growth strategy come through rapidly.

Howden Joinery hoisted sales in the first half of the year but the retailer's profits were whittled down as it increased investment and pension costs.

SSE, one of the UK's 'big six' energy suppliers, lost another 230,000 customers in the first quarter as people voted with their feet in the wake of price rises and also warned of a fall in adjusted earnings per share (EPS).

Anglo American posted an 8% year-on-year increase in copper-equivalent production in its second quarter, it said on Thursday, with copper-equivalent production for the half year to 30 June up 9% over the same period in 2016.

Medical products and technologies company ConvaTec has agreed to acquire independent US-based national distributor of incontinence and catheter-related supplies Woodbury Holdings from MTS Health Investors, for an enterprise value of $120. 5m, it announced on Thursday.

On Friday, Vodafone reported improved growth in the first few months of its new financial year thanks to strong growth in the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific (AMAP) region.

In an unusual double, Paysafe Group has both struck a $470m deal to acquire US-based Merchants' Choice Payment and also announced that it has received a takeover proposal from private equity companies Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners.

Online electrical goods retailer AO World reported 2. 5% growth in UK revenue for the three months to the end of June on Friday as it said the trading environment remains challenging.

After missing its self-imposed deadline of 30 June, Lloyds said it was close to making offers of compensation to less than half of the customers who had been impacted by counts of fraud by former bankers.

Acacia Mining unsurprisingly shelved its dividend and may have to pause production one mine after seeing its cash balance shrink 45% in the five months since the Tanzanian government banned the company from exporting gold concentrate from two of its three mines in the country.

Economic news

On Monday, the British Retail Consortium said UK shops benefitted from better weather last month and growth in the number of visitors was greater than the previous month.

Prices of homes put up for sale in the UK remained just about flat last month, according to research published overnight.

Business and investor confidence have both taken a turn for the worse, amid growing concern about squeezed consumer purses and as domestic politics undermines Brexit talks that continued on Monday, according to surveys from IHS Markit and Hargreaves Lansdown.

On Tuesday, UK consumer price inflation was shown to have unexpectedly eased back last month, according to official figures, with economists disagreeing over whether this is a false dawn.

The Land Registery confirmed UK house price growth slowed from a 5. 3% year-on-year pace in April to 4. 7% for May.

UK house price inflation was expected to slow further in 2017 but to remain steady thereafter, PriceWaterhouseCoopers's said in its annual UK Economic Outlook.

Higher income and a lower unemployment rate have aided in closing the gap on inequality across the UK, but some regions are still suffering, a new study found.

Consumers will be spared the burden of added credit and debit card charges from January 2018, the UK government has announced.

On Thursday, mid-cap lenders were lifted by strong UK mortgage lending figures, with the Council of Mortgage Lenders revealing that gross mortgage lending reached £22.1bn in June, up 9% on May’s lending and 3% higher than in June last year.

RICS revealed that UK construction workloads slowed modestly across all sectors as the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the political turmoil following the last elections weighed on investment decisions.

The Institute of Directors (IoD) says in a study published Thursday morning that only 11% of British companies have begun to implement contingency plans for Brexit.

On Friday, senior British cabinet minister came to a broad consensus about accepting that a “pragmatic approach” to free movement was necessary in the post-Brexit transition period, with a two-to-four year transition deal sketched out.

Public sector net borrowing rose more than expected in June as inflation meant the government was forced to pay more interest on its debt, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

The number of homes being sold in the UK has shrunk for the third month in a row, according to official figures released on Friday.

International events

Economic growth in China was steady over the second quarter of the year, official data revealed.

Inflation in the euro area dipped in June amid widespread price declines outside of services.

The Empire State manufacturing index, one of the more widely-followed gauges of regional manufacturing sector activity in the States fell back at the start of the month, but some economists cautioned against reading too much into the data.

German economic sentiment deteriorated more than expected in July, according to the latest survey from the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim.

Prices of goods purchased from overseas in the States dipped in June on the back of lower fuel import costs.

On Wednesday, construction output in the single currency bloc was confirmed as having shrunk in May, led by declines in almost all the major economies, save Italy.

US housing starts rose more than expected in June, according to data released by the Commerce Department.

US crude oil inventories fell by more than expected during the latest reference week, official data revealed, even as imports picked-up.

The European Central Bank kept all its main policy rates unchanged on Thursday, as expected, with ECB chief Mario Draghi telling reporters "we're not there yet" in his press conference when asked whether monetary policy needed to remain as accommodative as it was.

Consumer confidence in the single currency bloc slipped a tad, the European Union's executive arm said.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, according to data from the Labor Department.

Manufacturing conditions in the Philadelphia region deteriorated more than expected in July, according to a survey released on Thursday.