Britain’s top share index tracked higher European markets on Friday with the mood buoyed by easing trade worries, while Shire rose after China cleared Takeda’s plans to buy the drugmaker.
The FTSE 100 ended up 0.3 percent, gaining 0.4 percent for the week to close at 7,304.04, underpinned by gains among industrials and materials sectors, which more than offset weakness among utilities, hit earlier this week by a profit warning from SSE.
“Traders [are] hopeful about US-China trade talks despite [US President Donald] Trump being the fly in the ointment, downplaying prospects for quick negotiations,” Accendo Markets analayst Mike van Dulken said.
Trump on Thursday said that the US was under no pressure to make a trade deal with China, even as Chinese officials welcomed an invitation from Washington for a new round of talks with more US tariffs looming.
However, after the European close markets were unnerved after a Bloomberg report said Trump had asked aides to proceed with tariffs on US$200 billion more in Chinese goods.
The FTSE scored a small weekly gain following two consecutive weeks of losses partly due to a rally in the pound on prospects of a Brexit deal with the EU.
On Friday, the pan- European STOXX 600 benchmark rose 0.4 percent to 377.85, a 1.1 percent increase from a week earlier.
Germany’s DAX Index edged 0.6 percent higher to 12,124.33, a 1.4 percent increase for the week.
The pound slipped on Friday after touching its highest level since early August. The index, whose constituents make more than two-thirds of their sales abroad, remains down about 5 percent so far this year.
Shire rose 2.2 percent.
Takeda Pharmaceutical said China approved its purchase of Shire, the latest regulator to clear the US$62 billion deal and bring the Japanese group closer to becoming a global top 10 drugmaker.
Takeda expects the deal to close in the first half of next year, although it needs shareholder approval to raise the funds to pay for the deal.
Topping the STOXX was bank and asset manager Investec, which rose 8.4 percent on news it plans to hive off and separately list its asset management unit in a restructuring that comes as the long-serving company founder leaves the financial services group.
“Investec’s plan to spin off its asset management arm looks like a sensible decision as it should allow management more freedom to drive that business forward and not be constrained by having to follow the strategy of the current parent which is predominantly a specialist banking business,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
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