Weekly Review

The FTSE 100 index finished down 47.04 points on the week at 6,806.96.

Equity view

RBS has launched the initial public offering of its US subsidiary Citizens Financial Group. Majority state-owned RBS plans to sell 25% or 140m shares in Citizens at between $23 and $25.

Quindell has won a high court judgement in its libel action against Gotham City Research, the US analysts that dismissed the company's business as "a country club built on quicksand".

A buoyant UK hotel market and big events have boosted hotelier and restaurant owner Whitbread in the second quarter, but it cautioned that it was likely to have a tougher time in the second half. Like-for-like sales were up 6.8% in the second quarter.

Home electronics retailer Dixons Carphone said its integration was progressing well as it reported strong trading in the three months to August.

Along with an impressive set of final results, housebuilder Barratt Developments pledged to return almost £1bn to shareholders over the next three years via special dividends.

B&Q and Brico Depot owner Kingfisher has decided to replace its chief executive as it reported flat profits due to currency volatility, although it said the buoyant UK housing market had lifted demand for DIY products.

The London Stock Exchange has reported continued good trading since August ahead of a meeting to approve its planned £1.6bn acquisition of US indices group Frank Russell for £1.6bn.

Sports Direct held on to its full-year profit guidance after an 'in-line' start to the new financial year, but reported a mixed performance across its trading segments, with progress limited by a disappointing World Cup performance by the England football team, as previously announced.

As promised, UK supermarket chain Wm Morrison lifted its interim dividend by 5% but reported a 51% drop in underlying profits in its first half and said that like-for-like sales momentum is "yet to improve". Turnover fell 4.9% in first half to £8.5bn.

Engineering data and design IT systems group Aveva has revealed that it is reviewing its headcount growth plans and spending after a tough first half, in which revenues are expected to fall as much as 23%. The stock lost almost a quarter of its value on Friday.

Economic news

The upcoming Scottish referendum dominated headlines all week as markets continued to speculate which way the vote will go. The latest opinion poll released by YouGov on Thursday revealed that the 'no' camp had retaken the a four-point lead ahead of the 18 September vote.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) chiefs have warned of potential negative reactions in financial markets if the 'yes' campaign wins.

House prices continued to grow over the three months to the end of August but at a slower pace, mortgage lender Halifax said on Monday. From July to August, housing prices rose 0.1% to £186,270, against a 1.2% gain between June and July.

Children going back to school drove the best monthly rise in British high street sales since January last month. Parents buying school clothing and stationery boosted like-for-like retail sales by 1.3% in August against a year ago, while total sales lifted 2.7%, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium and accountancy firm KPMG.

The UK trade deficit rose to £10.2bn during the month, against City expectations of £9.1bn and June's £9.4bn.

UK industrial production expanded by 0.5% in July after a 0.3% increase in June, above the 0.2% expected by analysts.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney told the Trade Union Congress that interest rates could rise in the spring, before an expected increase in wages.

New buyer enquiries fell for the second consecutive month, a monthly survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showed.

UK construction output was flat over the month of July, and just 2.6% higher than a year before - the weakest annual increase since November 2013.

International events

Swedish group Electrolux agreed to pay General Electric $3.3bn for its appliance division.

Fast-food group Mcdonald's was trading lower after saying that global comparable sales fell 3.7% in August, partly due to a meat scandal in China. Analysts had expected a lesser 3.1% decline in sales.

The chairman of Spain's largest bank, Banco Santander, has passed away. Emilio Botin, who was 79, died in Madrid on Tuesday evening. He will be replaced by daughter Ana Patricia Botin.

A highly-anticipated product launch from Apple largely underwhelmed investors this week. The company unveiled two new versions of its iPhone as well as its first wearable watch device and a new contactless payment system, though these were widely expected by the market.

Dollar General took its $9.1bn offer for Family Dollar directly to the latter's shareholders. Dollar General has had its previous approaches rejected by Family Dollar's board on the back of anti-trust concerns, with management instead favouring a $8.5bn bid from Dollar Tree.

Two San Francisco Federal Reserve economists raised rate-hike concerns this week after saying that the "public seems to expect more accommodative monetary policy than the summary of economic projections suggests". They said that the market could be "misconstru[ing]" the central bank's forward guidance.

Weak data from China weighed on market sentiment on Thursday as figures showed that inflation had dropped to a four-month low in August while producer prices continued to fall. The news compounded fears about weak domestic demand after numbers earlier this week showed a slowdown in money-supply growth and a fall in imports.

The European Union (EU) said it will impose new economic sanctions on Russia from Friday, including further restrictions on banks, energy and defence companies, with Moscow quick to say it may ban automotive and clothing imports.

Twitter plans to raise as much as $1.5bn in a debt offering, which analysts believe is in preparation for acquisitions.