LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE 100 In 7th Weekly Gain; M&A Boosts FTSE 250

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended higher on Friday with the FTSE 100 recording its seventh straight week of gains, as ZPG and IWG surged on M&A activity lifting the FTSE 250. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.3%, or 23.59 points at 7,724.55 to end the week up 2.1%. The large cap index hit an intraday high of 7,722.33 in late afternoon trade - its highest level in 14 weeks. The FTSE 250 ended up 0.4%, or 86.15 points, at 20,785.56, ending the week up 1.8% and the AIM All-Share closed up 0.3%, or 3.61 points, at 1,080.79 ending the week up 1.4%.The Cboe UK 100 index closed up 0.3% at 13,106.42. The Cboe UK 250 closed up up 0.5% at 19,033.59, and the Cboe UK Small Companies closed up 0.5% at 12,740.58.On the London Stock Exchange, ITV ended the session as the best blue chip performer up 7.5%, rounding off the week in strong style after the broadcaster reported first quarter growth in online revenue and its ITV Studios content arm on Thursday. "ITV continues to find buyers as brokers cite the stock as a potential takeover target. Such a story is hardly new, but the Vodafone/Liberty move from earlier in the week is bound to prompt others to reconsider the worth of such a tempting target," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.Moreover, expectations are high the network behind TV shows such as Coronation Street and Love Island can reap benefits in advertising from this summer's football world cup tournament. The stock closed up 6.1% on Thursday and has gained 14% over the past week. G4S closed up 3.8% after Exane BNP upgraded the security services company to Outperform from Neutral.Royal Bank of Scotland closed up 2.7%. The state-backed lender was raised to Hold from Sell by Societe Generale. RBS on Thursday agreed a USD4.90 billion penalty to settle a US Justice Department investigation over the bank's issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities in the run up to the financial crisis in 2008.At the other end of the large cap index, DCC ended as the worst performer down 2.3% ahead of the Irish distribution firm's annual results on Tuesday. BT Group closed down 1.6% as it extended losses from Thursday after aggressive cost-cutting measures set out by the telecommunications giant alongside disappointing earnings did little to please investors. The stock closed down 7.4% on Thursday and is down 20% so far in 2018. InterContinental Hotels Group closed down 1.4% after Merrill Lynch downgraded the Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites parent to Neutral from Buy. In the FTSE 250, ZPG was the standout performer closing up 30% with shares hitting a record high of 494.40p, after the Zoopla property portal owner recommended shareholders accept a generous takeover offer made by US venture capital firm Silver Lake Management Co.The offer values each ZPG share at 490.00 pence in cash, and the entire group at GBP2.20 billion. This is a 31% premium to the closing price of ZPG on Thursday of 375.20p, and 24% to the all-time high closing price of 394.00p recorded in March 2017.The stock has more than doubled since the company, then-known as Zoopla Property Group, listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in June 2014 at an IPO price of 220 pence - which valued the company at nearly GBP1.00 billion. Midcap peer Rightmove closed up 3.8%, while smaller competitor OnTheMarket closed up 7.1%.In late news, IWG said after the market close it was evaluating three possible cash takeover bids, after its share price had jumped earlier in the day, closing up 10%. IWG had received an approach from Lone Star Europe Acquisitions Ltd as well as two separate indicative proposal from Starwood Capital European Operations Ltd and TDR Capital LLP regarding a potential cash bid for the office workspace firm.The firm, formerly known as Regus, said it was evaluating the rival bids and would update investors in due course. It emphasised that there was no certainty an offer would be made. At the other end of the midcaps, Renishaw closed down 4.4% after the engineer was cut to Reduce from Hold by Peel Hunt amid a strong rise in the share price after it raised its revenue and profit forecasts earlier this week. The pound was up quoted at USD1.3536 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.3476 at the same time on Thursday, amid weakness in the dollar. "The dollar's rally is likely to have ended for now," Commerzbank Analyst Ulrich Leuchtmann said. "But of course USD strength could hardly go on as quickly and smoothly as it had done for the past weeks. It only required the smallest of causes to lead to a pause and correction. But it is unlikely to be any more than that, a pause and a temporary correction."In Paris the CAC 40 ended down 0.1%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended down 0.2%. The euro was up at USD1.1958 at the European equities close, against USD1.1895 the prior day.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close. The DJIA was up 0.3%, the S&P 500 index up 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite was flat. In US corporate news, Thomson Reuters announced that it may buy back up to USD500 million of its shares prior to the closing of the proposed Financial & Risk transaction under its normal course issuer bid.The news and information company currently expects to use between USD9 billion and USD10 billion of the estimated USD17 billion of gross proceeds of the transaction to return capital to its shareholders through a substantial issuer bid/tender offer. First quarter revenue increased 4% due to higher recurring revenue and a positive impact from foreign currency. At constant currency, revenues increased 3%. For the full-year 2018, the company expects low single-digit revenue growth and adjusted Ebitda between USD1.2 billion and USD1.3 billion.On the US economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing import prices increased by less than expected in the month of April. The Labor Department said import prices rose by 0.3% in April after edging down by a revised 0.2% in March. Economists had expected import prices to climb by 0.5% compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.Still to come, President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech in Washington, DC on his plan to lower drug prices. Reports say Trump's plan will include a series of reforms to Medicare - the US national health insurance program - but will stop short of allowing the government to negotiate directly with drug makers.Brent oil was firm, quoted at USD77.24 a barrel at the equities close from USD77.08 at the close Thursday. Gold was up, quoted at USD1,322.00 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,318.60 late Thursday.The economic calendar on Monday has domestic corporate goods price index readings at 0050 BST and China new loans figures at 0300 BST. The UK corporate calendar on Monday has half year results from specialty chemicals firm Victrex, platinum miner Lonmin and technical products supplier Diploma. There is also a trading statement from British Gas parent company Centrica, which is also holding its annual general meeting.