Advertisement
UK markets open in 1 hour 6 minutes

  • NIKKEI 225

    37,635.05
    -825.03 (-2.15%)
     

  • HANG SENG

    17,272.84
    +71.57 (+0.42%)
     

  • CRUDE OIL

    82.95
    +0.14 (+0.17%)
     

  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,329.10
    -9.30 (-0.40%)
     

  • DOW

    38,460.92
    -42.77 (-0.11%)
     

  • Bitcoin GBP

    51,536.59
    -1,977.71 (-3.70%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,389.55
    -34.55 (-2.43%)
     

  • NASDAQ Composite

    15,712.75
    +16.11 (+0.10%)
     

  • UK FTSE All Share

    4,374.06
    -4.69 (-0.11%)
     
Money:

The five essential pieces of financial paperwork you must never lose

Mislaying key documents can cause real headaches, so it’s worth tracking down these most commonly-lost bits of paperwork

Britain's FTSE forges ahead as Shire surges

Reuters - UK Focus

* FTSE 100 ends up 0.6 pct at 6,378.04 points

* Shire (Xetra: S7E.DE - news) lifted by talk it may bid for a U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . rival

* Burberry extends previous day's slide

* GKN (LSE: GKN.L - news) hit by estimates downgrade from Liberum

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 16 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose on Friday, lifted by drugmaker Shire, whose shares climbed on speculation it could be lining up a bid for a U.S. rival.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended up 0.6 percent at 6,378.04 points.

Shire rose 3.2 percent, which traders attributed to speculation it was preparing a bid for U.S. peer Radius Health (Xetra: 1R8.DE - news) , seen as a potentially good deal for the British group. Shire (Amsterdam: QB8.AS - news) declined to comment on the situation.

ADVERTISEMENT

Traders added that expectations of new stimulus measures from China, the world's second-biggest economy, were giving equity markets a further lift.

Signs of a slowdown in China knocked back world stock markets in the third quarter, with the FTSE still down 4 percent since the start of 2015, and down around 10 percent from an April (LSE: 0N69.L - news) record high of 7,122.74 points.

"With half an eye on the possibility of more central bank stimulus, stocks have edged out a positive finish to the week," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.

Burberry was among the worst performing stocks on the FTSE, falling 1.9 percent to extend the previous session's slide, as a profit warning late on Thursday from Hugo Boss (Xetra: BOSA.DE - news) hit luxury goods companies.

Hugo Boss cut its 2015 sales and profit outlook, while price target cuts from brokers on Burberry's shares on Friday added further pressure to the British company, whose shares had already slumped 8.3 percent on Thursday on weak sales growth.

GKN and other engineering stocks also fell after brokerage Liberum cut estimates on the sector.

(Additional reporting by Kit Rees; Editing by Toby Chopra and Mark Potter)