LONDON: UK stocks opened 0.4 percent higher on Friday, according to financial bookmakers.
The UK blue chip index closed 68.59 points higher, up 1 percent, at 6,796.63 on Thursday, rising for a sixth straight session.
Oil prices jumped on Friday as news of the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah added to uncertainty in energy markets already facing some of the biggest shifts in decades.
Britain’s government has awarded support services company Carillion two five-year contracts worth around 200 million pounds ($300 million) in total to provide facilities management services to its prisons, the company said on Friday.
The company said on Friday its trading profit for last year was 131 million pounds ($196.36 million), in line with expectations.
Anglo American is looking to sell a cluster of coal assets in eastern Australia as it tries to boost shareholder returns amid a slump in commodities prices, the Financial Times reported late on Thursday. Source link: (on.ft.com/1y4aR9j)
BP has put its 950,000 cubic meter capacity oil storage terminal in Amsterdam up for sale, which is expected to take place near the end of the year, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
European Union rules to keep insurance companies stable will not be an excuse for regulators to ramp up capital requirements for insurers in Britain, a senior Bank of England official said on Thursday.
BT – Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison Whampoa Ltd has agreed to buy Telefonica’s British mobile unit O2 for up to 10.25 billion pounds ($15.4 billion), as Asia’s richest man makes his boldest bet yet to revamp his European telecoms business.
Close Brothers said on Friday it remained confident in the outlook for the current financial year.
Shares in the group rose 5 percent on Thursday. The Daily Mail wrote in its market report they were boosted by “vague break-up bid speculation”. The firm said on Thursday it had extended its relationship with AT&T to transform its global communication services.
The British technology and outsourcing company confirmed it was in exclusive talks with Australian law firm Slater & Gordon Ltd for a possible sale of an operating unit.
