Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week down 88.15 points at 6,001.89.

Equity view

AstraZeneca's Imfinzi has been approved in Japan for the treatment of patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), in combination with etoposide plus a choice of platinum chemotherapy, the company said on Friday.

HgCapital Trust announced on Friday that the Hg Saturn team and its investors have agreed to a further investment in business software provider Visma.

Omega Diagnostics has received World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification for its ‘VISITECT CD4’ advanced disease test, it announced on Friday.

Irish building insulation company Kingspan reported a decline in half-year profit on Friday as revenues were hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Chilean copper miner Antofagasta reported a 22.4% fall in first-half earnings on weaker prices and sales but still paid a reduced dividend.

Telecommunications group Airtel Africa has inked a strategic partnership with cross-border payments and transfers provider MoneyGram.

John Laing Group reported a net asset value of £1.53bn at the end of its first half on Thursday, down from £1.6bn a year earlier, as its net asset value per share slipped to 309p from 325p.

Retailer Mothercare on Thursday unveiled a new business model after talks with franchisees and completed a 10-year deal with pharmacy chain Boots to sell goods in its stores in time for the autumn season.

BBGI Sicav has bought the remaining 50% stake which it did not yet own in the Kelowna and Vernon Hospitals public-private partnership project.

Online trading platform Plus500 has signed a three-year agreement with Italian professional football club Atalanta B.C to become its sole and exclusive main sponsor from 1 September.

IT infrastructure company Softcat said on Wednesday that it had continued to trade “satisfactorily” during the final three months of its financial year, and as a result, delivered operating profit for the full-year slightly ahead of its expectations.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority said on Wednesday that it is considering whether the brewing joint venture between Marston’s and Carlsberg would damage competition.

BHP said it would widen plans to exit coal operations and look to offload older oil and gas assets as it reported a drop in full year profits.

Cruise operator Carnival said on Tuesday that it had detected a ransomware incident in which the data of its guests and employees was accessed.

TI Fluid Systems reported a 30.7% fall in revenue at constant currency in its first half on Tuesday, to €1.18bn (£1.07bn), although that still outperformed global light vehicle production in the period by 2.5%.

Kazakhstan-focused miner Kaz Minerals revealed a drop in interim profits on Tuesday, principally due to lower copper prices throughout the period.

Playtech investor, Jason Ader, believes that DraftKings should make an all share acquisition offer for Playtech.

Petropavlovsk announced the appointment of Maksim Meshcheriakov as its interim chief executive officer on Monday, with immediate effect.

Polymetal has concluded installation of the world's largest autoclave at its POX-2 construction site at Amur, in the Russian Far East.

Apax Global Alpha said its look through position in Duck Creek Technologies was valued at around €82m after the software company serving the property and casualty insurance market raised $405m in its upsized initial public offering (IPO).

Economic news

GfK's consumer confidence index for the UK came in at -27 in August, a flat reading month-on-month but well and truly below the -14 recorded a year earlier.

UK government debt exceeded £2trn in July for the first time as spending rose due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to figures released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics.

UK consumer price inflation unexpectedly rose in July as Covid-19 lockdown measures eased, with clothing and fuel the main contributors.

The UK government said on Wednesday it would expand its Covid-19 national testing study to improve its weekly data on the spread of the virus and better locate future outbreaks.

Britons are again expecting house price gains, the results of a closely-watched survey revealed.

Supermarket sales growth in the UK slowed in the last 12 weeks as shopping habits eased back to normality after the Covid-19 lockdown, according to data released on Tuesday by market research firm Kantar.

July was the busiest month for home buying in a decade, according to figures released by property website Rightmove on Monday, boosted by pent-up demand and a reassessment of people’s needs and requirements after the Covid-19 lockdown.

IHS Markit's UK household finance index dipped from 41.5 to 40.8 in August as the strain on household finances stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic intensified.

Exceptionally hot weather weighed on high street footfall last week, according to figures released by retail analyst Springboard on Monday.

Tata Motors on Monday denied reports it planned to sell its stake in Jaguar Land Rover after the collapse of talks with the UK government on a rescue package.

International events

Facebook on Friday pushed for legislation that makes it easier for users to transfer photos and videos to a rival tech platform.

Growth rates in euro area manufacturing and services unexpectedly parted ways last month as the reimposition of travel restrictions weighed on the latter, the results of two key surveys revealed.

Trade talks between the US and China will be held soon, a Chinese Commerce Ministry official said on Thursday.

The Japanese government signed a contract with a Deloitte-linked consulting group to distribute coronavirus relief payouts.

Teenage activist Greta Thunberg warned that the world is still wasting time when it comes to fighting climate change and attacked “ignorance and unawareness”.

Chinese authorities have had to evacuate 100,000 people homes living on the upper reaches of China’s Yangtze river from their homes due to the risk of flooding.

Oracle is reportedly working with US venture capital firms to acquire TikTok’s US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in a direct challenge to tech giant Microsoft.

The World Health Organization is urging countries to stop putting their own interests ahead of the common goal in the race for a vaccine to combat Covid-19.

The Japanese economy suffered its worst contraction on record in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic took its toll.

Opec has managed to raise crude prices and stabilise the oil market, Iran’s oil minister was quoted on Monday as saying via his ministry’s website SHANA.