Weekly Review
The FTSE 100 Index finished down 112.37 points on the week at 6,679.18.
Equity view
Household goods group Reckitt Benckiser unveiled plans to hive off its drug arm into a separate UK-listed company as it reported higher first-half revenue and profit at constant exchange rates, but warned of a potentially tough second half.
Profits are expected to beat expectations for packaging and paper company Mondi in the first half of the year, the company said this week.
High Street giant Next has lifted its guidance for the full year after a strong first half, though it said that results over the last six months have been flattered by easy comparatives.
A good performance by GKN's car driveshaft business fuelled higher half-year profits at the automotive and aerospace engineer, but the strong pound knocked £247m off sales.
BP has announced second-quarter profits one-third higher than the same period last year, but said further sanctions imposed on Russia "could have a material adverse impact", notably affecting its part ownership of Rosneft.
Barclays reported a 12% fall in total income adjusted for insurance claims for the first half to £13.32bn, driven by reductions at its investment and African banking units. However, the fall was less than analysts expected.
Currency headwinds blew earnings per share 12% lower at British American Tobacco in the first half of the year, although underlying profits improved if exchange rates were held steady.
Tullow Oil kept its interim dividend unchanged as it dropped into the red in the first half of 2014, after exploration write-offs more than doubled.
The World Cup and the UK's economic upturn helped broadcaster ITV to boost half-year earnings by 11% as it voiced confidence about its autumn programme schedule and said it was on track to expand internationally.
First-quarter revenues were down at BT but underlying figures were more positive and profits were 7% higher than the same period last year.
Oil major Royal Dutch Shell's earnings more than doubled in the second quarter, even when including a $1bn net charge due to impairments.
Construction group Balfour Beatty has called off its planned merger with rival Carillion after Carillion said it would only press ahead with the deal if Balfour ditched plans to sell its Parsons Brinckerhoff US engineering division.
Lloyds saw underlying profits improve by 32% to £3.82bn in the first half of the year.
Astrazeneca lifted its guidance for the year after delivering a 4% increase in second quarter revenue to $6.4bn, ahead of expectations.
The share price of FTSE 250 oil explorer Afren plummeted on Thursday after the company said that it was suspending its chief executive officer and chief operating officer.
Royal Bank of Scotland reported a 367% increase in operating profits for the first half of the year to reach £2.6bn on the back of a sharp reduction in impairment charges.
Economic news
British house prices were flat last month as a mortgage clampdown took its toll, although experts said a sustainable market was still "some way off". Prices were unchanged in June against May, although they rose 6.4% to an average £172,011 in the year to June, official data from the Land Registry showed.
The recovery of the British economy remains at an early stage and there is still slack in the economy. Hence, the Bank of England should continue to support the recovery, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said at the launch of its regular health check of the UK economy.
Total lending in the UK increased by 0.2% month-on-month (1.9% year-on-year) in June, or £2.5bn, to reach £1.4trn, according to the Bank of England. Mortgage lending increased by 0.2% month-on-month (1.5% year-on-year) to reach £1.28trn.
British companies' expectations of their own prospects fell slightly this month, with the overall net balance of firms expecting their trading prospects to increase in the next year easing two points to 53%, according to the monthly Lloyds Business Barometer.
British house prices rose at their slowest rate since April 2013 this month. Prices increased by 0.1% in July, down from 1% in June but still the 15th month in a row of rises, according to the Nationwide Building Society's monthly house price index.
International events
Helped by a strong World Cup, Twitter's second-quarter earnings of two cents per share far exceeded the small loss that had been forecast, sending the stock soaring this week.
The European Union agreed on Tuesday evening to impose new sanctions on Russia for its involvement in the turmoil in Ukraine. Amongst the new measures contemplated are limits on Russian state-owned lenders' access to European capital markets, banning sales of stocks or bonds by those institutions, with the aim of increasing their financing costs.
The US economy expanded at an annualised pace of 4% in the second quarter of 2014, bouncing back strongly from a steep contraction in the weather-disrupted first quarter. The estimate smashed economists' predictions, who had on average expected gross domestic product (GDP) to rise by a lesser 3%.
The UK government has called a meeting of its emergency Cobra committee to prepare precautions should the outbreak of Ebola virus currently gripping west Africa spread to these shores. The European Union has also increased funds available to fight the outbreak, allocating an extra €2m to bring a total EU funding to €3.9m.
Israel said it was resuming military operations on Friday, claiming that Hamas broke the planned ceasefire within hours of it being agreed.
US non-farm payrolls increased by 209,000 in July, according to the Department of Labor, despite a noticeable slowdown in hiring by service sector firms. The consensus estimate had been for an increase of 230,000.