Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week up 182.65 points at 6,550.23.

Equity view

Paddy Power Betfair owner Flutter Entertainment said on Friday that it has raised around £1.1bn in a share placing to help fund the acquisition of a further stake in US gaming company FanDuel.

Berkeley Group stuck to its targets for shareholder returns as the housebuilder reported a 16.6% fall in first-half profit caused by the Covid-19 crisis.

Pets at Home said it would take a full £35m hit from Covid-19 after deciding to repay £28.9m in government business rates relief received during the pandemic.

Associated British Foods increased its estimate for lost sales during recent Covid-19 lockdowns to £430m as it reported strong demand at Primark stores that had reopened.

TalkTalk has announced a second extension to takeover talks with Toscafund Asset Management to allow commercial discussions and checks to continue.

Investment platform AJ Bell hiked its dividend on Thursday as it reported a jump in full-year profit and revenue after gaining a record number of customers.

Lender Paragon Bank paid a reduced dividend as it set aside £48m for bad debts due to the Covid-19 pandemic and reported lower annual profits.

Sainsbury's on Thursday became the latest supermarket to bow to pressure and repay more than £400m in business rates relief received from the government to help cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Britain has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use, with doses to be rolled out from early next week.

Centamin said it would pay more than $100m (£74.4m) of dividends in each of the next two years as the gold miner set out production and cost-cut targets.

Budget airline Ryanair said on Wednesday that passenger numbers slid in November as it continued to take a hit from the Covid-19 crisis and related travel restrictions.

Budget airline Wizz Air reported a slump in November traffic on Wednesday as passenger numbers continue to be dented by the Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions.

Mining technology provider Weir Group said it had won a £95m order to provide aftermarket components and service to the Iron Bridge magnetite project in Western Australia.

Pets at Home said it had sold five of its Specialist referral practices to Linnaeus Group for up to £100m in cash.

Credit Suisse has named outgoing Lloyds Banking Group chief executive António Horta-Osório as its new chairman.

Tate & Lyle said on Tuesday that it has bought Sweet Green Fields (SGF), a stevia sweetener solutions business, for an undisclosed sum.Advertising giant WPP has submitted a proposal to the board of WPP AUNZ to buy the remaining 38.5% stake in the company it does not already own as it looks to take full control of its operations in Australia and New Zealand.

Russian miner Petropavlovsk said it had appointed Highland Gold boss Denis Alexandrov as its new chief executive.

AstraZeneca announced on Monday that ‘Forxiga’, or dapagliflozin, has been approved in Japan for the treatment of patients with chronic heart failure, who are receiving standard-of-care.

Hochschild Mining said it had been ordered to lockdown its San Jose operation after a “significant increase” in Covid-19 infections in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina.

Economic news

Britain's new car market again declined in November, with registrations falling 27.4% year-on-year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

UK construction order books rose at the fastest pace for more than six years in November as more houses were built, a survey showed.

A negotiated trade between the EU and the UK was said on Friday to be "imminent".

The UK services sector eased in November, but optimism for the year ahead hit fresh highs as hopes grew that the Covid-19 pandemic would be soon brought under control, a closely-watched survey showed on Thursday.

Business uncertainty edged down but remained high in November as good news on Covid-19 vaccines bolstered sentiment, a Bank of England survey showed.

Britain has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use, with doses to be rolled out from early next week.

Communities in the UK are being asked to enter a bid to host a prototype nuclear fusion power plant.

Annual house price growth advanced at a pace of 6.5% last month, the highest rate seen in almost five years.

The UK manufacturing sector continued to strengthen in November, boosted by Brexit stockpiling and demand recovering following earlier lockdowns, industry data showed on Tuesday.

Mortgage approvals surged to a 13-year high in October, underpinned by pent-up demand and the stamp duty holiday, official data showed on Monday.

International events

German factory orders rose for the sixth month in a row in October, coming in ahead of pre-pandemic levels, according to figures released by Destatis on Friday.

US employment accelerated at a much weaker-than-expected clip in November, while the unemployment rate fell from 6.8% to 6.7% despite a surge in the number of new Covid-19 cases.

Activity in America's services sector slowed slightly in November as businesses try to cope with the recent surge in Covid-19 infections, the results of a closely-followed survey revealed.

A sharp drop in services activity amid new Covid-19 restrictions dragged the eurozone economy to shrink for the first time in five months in November.

IBM warned on Thursday of hackers targeting companies critical to the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines that ensure the ‘cold chain’ is maintained.

Private sector employment in the US rose less than expected in November, according to the latest figures from the ADP.

The Chinese manufacturing sector has hit a 10-year high, a private sector survey showed on Tuesday, as the economy continued to rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Iran gave preliminary approval to a draft legislation that could potentially end inspections of nuclear sites by the start of 2021.

Bayer AG raised $1.6bn on Monday after it sold most of its stake in Elanco Animal Health in an attempt to cover legal bills over the weedkiller Roundup.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have made their final submission to the European Medicines Agency for approval of their potential Covid-19 vaccine.