Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week down 17.57 points at 6,529.18.

Equity view

Halma said it had sold its Fiberguide Industries unit to US electronic, electrical and fibre optic connection systems firm Molex for $38m (£28.1m) on a cash and debt free basis.

Telecoms and mobile money services company Airtel Africa said Uganda unit had granted a 20-year national telecom operator licence for $74.6m.

Barclays said Ian Cheshire would step down as chairman of its UK bank because lacks the time to lead the lender through economic recovery from the effects of Covid-19.

Royal Philips NV has agreed to buy BioTelemetry, a US provider of remote cardiac diagnostics and monitoring, in a deal valued at $2.8bn.

Sainsbury’s has appointed Lesley Jones as the new chair of its bank with effect from 30 January 2021.

The value of rough diamond sales at Anglo American’s De Beers unit fell in the tenth cycle of the year, the company said on Thursday.

Rio Tinto said it had appointed finance director Jakob Stausholm as its next chief executive as the Anglo-Australian mining giant looked to move on after blowing up a sacred Aboriginal site, sparking global outrage.

Novartis has agreed to buy Massachusetts-based neuroscience company Cadent Therapeutics for up to $770m.

Data and analytics company Ascential on Wednesday said it had made acquisitions in China and Brazil.

Petrofac increased its target for cost cuts as the oil field services company said it expected 2020 profit "materially lower" in uncertain trading conditions.

Distribution and services group Bunzl forecast revenue growth of 8% in 2020, but lower growth next year as larger Covid-19 related orders slowed down.

Builders’ merchant Travis Perkins reported a rise in like-for-like sales in October and November amid "strong" demand in the DIY market, as it said it will repay the business rates relief it received for the Covid-19 crisis.

FTSE 250 online trading platform IG Group said on Tuesday that it expects to report a surge in revenues for the first half amid elevated trading volumes.

Segro has unconditionally agreed to buy a further 74.9% stake in French warehouse group Sofibus for €313.71 a share.

AstraZeneca announced on Tuesday that ‘Imfinzi’, or durvalumab, had been recommended for marketing authorisation in the European Union for an additional dosing option.

Advanced technology products and services group Chemring said on Tuesday that its full-year performance was ahead of expectations, with strong performances in both segments.

Polypipe Group said annual profit would beat expectations as its business continued to recover from the Covid-19 crisis.

Aviva has agreed to sell its life insurance business in Vietnam to Manulife in the UK company's latest move to retreat from Asia.

The UK government said it was restarting talks with EDF on its plan to build a £20bn nuclear reactor at Sizewell C in Suffolk, including the possibility of taking a direct financial stake in its construction.

Shares in OnTheMarket jumped in early trading on Monday after the property portal revealed full-year profits were on course to beat market expectations.

Economic news

Retail sales fell in November as lockdown restrictions took their toll, but they remain above pre-pandemic levels, according to figures released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics.

UK manufacturers’ order books improved at their strongest rate since the start of the Covid-19 crisis in December as the clock ticked down to post-Brexit trading, a Confederation of British Industry survey showed.

Lloyd’s, the world’s biggest insurance market, said it would no longer invest in fossil fuel projects from January 2022 and would pull insurance on existing investments by 2030.

The Bank of England left monetary policy unchanged at rate setters' last meeting of 2020 and said it would take whatever action was needed in an unusually uncertain time for the economy.

UK inflation slowed sharply in November as the price of clothing, food and non-alcoholic drinks declined, with Black Friday playing its part, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics.

UK house prices jumped in October, official data showed on Tuesday, as pent-up demand and the stamp duty holiday boosted the market.

The UK unemployment rate ticked higher in October while redundancies rose to a record high as the coronavirus pandemic continued to take its toll.

The UK’s new Online Safety Bill looks to block illegal and harmful content on the web.

UK house prices will rise 4% in 2021 as values continue to rise modestly after the end of the stamp duty holiday that has fuelled a mini-boom, Rightmove predicted.

One of the world's top three credit rating agencies said a 'no deal' Brexit could see its rating for the UK's sovereign debt come under pressure should it complicate the outlook for the economy and fiscal consolidation.

International events

The US is ready to add dozens of Chinese companies including chipmaker SMIC to a trade blacklist on Friday, according to a report.

German business sentiment improved in December despite Covid-19 restrictions, according to a survey released on Friday by the Ifo Institute.

New car registrations tumbled across the European Union in November, industry data showed on Thursday, as fresh restrictions to contain Covid-19 dented demand.

Beijing will welcome investigators from the World Health Organization to start an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 virus in January.

Eurozone banks can start paying dividends again from the start of 2021, the European Central Bank has said, but only under strict limitations.

Retail sales volumes in the US fell by much more than expected last month as the holiday season got off to a very weak start.

China’s post-pandemic economic recovery continued into November, the latest official data showed on Tuesday.

A major automotive trade association urged the US government on Tuesday to support the country's electric vehicle industry and offer incentives for research and development.

Eurozone industrial production continued to strengthen in October, official data published on Monday showed, despite a resurgence of Covid-19 cases across the continent.

Google suffered a global outage on Monday, with Gmail, Google calendar, YouTube, Maps and Documents all affected.