Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week up 138.9 points at 7,183.64.

Equity view

LondonMetric Property has sold one of its oldest regional warehouses for £15m and used the cash as it snapped up five 'urban' logistics warehouses for £25.6m.

Passenger numbers were higher at easyJet in March, despite the effect of the ‘Beast from the East’, with 6.55 million passengers during the month when compared to the same time last year.

Anglo American has been fined a $38m over pollution caused by the first of two leaks from an iron ore pipeline at its Minas Rio mine in Brazil last month, with another fine likely over a second leak.

Big Yellow Group updated the market on its recent developments on Friday, announcing that it has been granted planning consent for its new 72,000 square foot store in Camberwell, London.

Online electrical goods retailer AO World said on Friday that its full-year results should fall within the range of current market forecasts.

FTSE 250 home emergency repairs business HomeServe said on Thursday that its full-year adjusted pre-tax profit should be in line with market expectations following "another strong year".

Fidessa has confirmed the identities of two third parties that are considering making an offer for the financial technology group that trumps the one made by Switzerland's Temenos in February.

Smurfit Kappa is installing a new industrial-scale HP PageWide C500 digital press for corrugated printing, which will provide greater customisation and flexibility for customers, it announced on Thursday.

Hammerson reported modest growth in the value of its portfolio of shopping centres in the first quarter of the year, but said it was waiting for French suitor Klépierre to make its position clear later this month before proceeding with its own takeover of UK rival Intu.

Casino operator Rank Group warned investors that it was expecting full-year profits to come in lower this time around after the group, whose chief executive Henry Birch resigned in March, said it remained "cautious" about the UK's consumer outlook.

WPP said it had commissioned an independent investigation into an allegation of personal misconduct against chief executive Martin Sorrell.

Low-cost airline Wizz Air posted a 25.2% jump in passenger numbers for March as the load factor ticked higher.

Budget airline Ryanair posted a 6% rise in March traffic on Wednesday as the load factor edged up.

FTSE 250 waste-to-product company Renewi said on Wednesday that its results for the year to the end of March 2018 are expected to be in line with the board's expectations in terms of underlying trading and cash.

Collapsed drinks business Conviviality sold its wholesale business to Magners cider maker C&C Group on Wednesday, having earlier appointed administrators and confirmed talks were ongoing with "a number" of parties interested buying its retail chains.

BGEO's subsidiary, M2 Real Estate, has acquired an 8,512 square metre land plot in Telavi, Kakheti, for $1.5m in cash, on which it plans to develop a hotel.

Petrofac has been awarded a lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contract by Vedanta Limited valued at around $233m.

Spectris, a supplier of productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls, has acquired US-based automotive test system and service provider, Revolutionary Engineering, for $19m.

21st Century Fox has strengthened its commitments to Sky’s news funding and independence and has said Walt Disney is interested in buying Sky News whether or not Disney’s proposed acquisition of Fox goes ahead.

Anglo American suspended its Minas-Rio iron ore operation in Brazil after two pipeline leaks in last month caused concern about other areas of potential weakness.

Economic news

Housebuilders have gone on a buying spree at the new Government-backed garden city at Ebbsfleet, snapping up land with the intention to develop £1bn worth of new homes in the project's latest phase of the development.

Taxes on soft-drinks and sugar have come into force on Friday.

Low-wage sectors in the UK are up to 30% less productive than their equivalents in other developed countries, a study has found.

Britain's new car market declined in March, according to figures released by industry on Thursday that showed new vehicle registrations fall 15.7% year-on-year in what was the twelfth consecutive month of falling registrations.

Bad weather and Brexit-related uncertainty contributed to the slowest growth for UK services since just after the vote to leave the EU in March.

PSA, Vauxhall’s French parent company announced the next Vivaro van would be built at its Luton plant, securing 1,400 jobs past 2030.

Dozens of UK firms were still to publish their equal pay figures before the deadline on Wednesday at midnight, although approximately 9,000 companies had already submitted their data.

The financial watchdog has warned it will clamp down on general insurance companies that fail to supply customers with pricing information or encourage them to shop around for a better deal.

UK manufacturing output unexpectedly picked up last month but new order growth slowed, according to a survey of the sector by IHS Markit.

UK government delayed final decision on the manufacturer of the new British passports after UK company De La Rue received support for its complaints over the government's choice of France's Gemalto as their preferred bidder.

International events

China stands ready to retaliate to any new measures from Washington on trade, a spokesman for Beijing said on Friday, adding that finance officials from his country and the US had not held trade talks recently.

US non-farm payrolls rose by 103,000 in March, falling far short of economists' forecasts for an increase of 193,000.

Russia attempted to discredit the UK on Thursday at the UN after Boris Johnson blamed Moscow for the poisoning of former ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter without having enough proof, overstating is accusation.

North Korea is able to develop missiles capable of reaching the UK's shores by next year, according to a study carried out by the Commons' Defence Select Committee MPs.

US officials have begun actively planning for the likelihood that the always unpredictable Donald Trump will reveal America's intention to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal, according to the Associated Press, something that would leave many a question over what could happen next or how the Middle Eastern nation would respond.

Growth in the US services sector slowed a little in March, according to figures released on Wednesday.

Private sector employment in the US rose more than expected in March, according to data released by ADP on Wednesday.

A new working paper looking at the share of jobs at risk of being replaced by automation across 32 countries estimates that about 14% of jobs in those nations are considered to be highly automatable, according to the OECD's Future of Work report.

JP Morgan strategists sounded a positive note on the outlook for equities on Tuesday, telling clients the risk-reward balance had not turned medium-term negative.

The German prosecution is processing Catalan ex-president Carles Puigdemont’s extradition to Spain from the prison where he is currently being detained, because of the risk that he might flee if allowed to leave on bail.