UK stocks clawed their way back into positive territory on Friday as US markets rallied on non-farm payrolls data that came in slightly worse than expected, but showed an improvement on the prior month.
US bonds and the technology focused Nasdaq 100 rallied strongly while the US dollar weakened on the news. Investors interpreted the data as evidence that the US economy was still recovering, but not too strongly, which might have forced the Federal Reserve to halt its asset purchase programme.
At the market close the FTSE 100 index was 0.1% higher at 7,069 points.
COMPANY NEWS
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AZN) reported ‘statistically significant’ results from the latest phase 3 trials of its Lynparza breast cancer drug.
The data will be presented to the American Society of Clinical Oncology within days and Astra hopes to bring the drug to high-risk patients quickly.
Meanwhile, the firm announced the appointment of Aradhana Sarin, currently chief financial officer of Alexion Pharma, as its new group financial officer once the takeover of Alexion is completed in the third quarter. The shares added 1.4% to £80.55.
Packaging firm Smurfit Kappa (SKG) revealed it had acquired a leading Peruvian packaging business, Cartones del Pacifico, for an undisclosed sum.
The business expands Smurfit’s footprint in the industrial and agricultural sectors in Latin America and the firm expects to extract efficiencies through applying its operating system and procurement arrangements. The shares dropped 0.9% to £37.36.
Shares in games software firm Frontier Developments (FDEV:AIM) surged 8.7% to £26.90 after it announced it would launch a new game based on the popular Warhammer brand in partnership with its creator Games Workshop (GAW).
‘Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters’ is expected to debut on PC next year on the Steam platform with further editions of the game expected in 2023. Games Workshop shares dipped 0.2% to £119.
Music royalty investor Hipgnosis (SONG) announced it had acquired the catalogue of Grammy-winning songwriter Joel Little, who is known for his hits with acts including Lorde and Taylor Swift. The firm added that Little’s songs have been streamed more than 15 billion times. The shares lost 0.2% to 124.2p.
ContourGlobal (GLO), the owner and operator of wholesale power assets, announced it had agreed the acquisition of Green Hunter Group in a joint venture with Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP).
The solar assets owned by Green Hunter are based in Italy and provide long-term, contracted cash-flows with an average feed-in tariff period of 10 years. The shares eased 0.3% to 195p.
Shares in Scotch whisky provider Artisanal Spirits (ART:AIM) jumped 4.9% to 117.4p on their first day of dealings after the firm placed 26 million shares at 112p.
The firm owns the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, which it describes as the leading curator and provider of premium single cask malts and other spirits, primarily online, to ‘a discerning global membership’.
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