London stocks surge again on latest takeover moves

London’s market rally continued on Friday as the FTSE 100 lifted to its latest record closing price, with the recent takeover frenzy continuing.

Anglo American was higher again despite rebuffing its mammoth takeover bid from BHP, while a private equity swoop for Darktrace helped drive the FTSE 250 to strong gains.

The FTSE 100 was also boosted by a strong reception to NatWest’s latest trading update.

London’s top index finished 60.97 points, or 0.75%, higher to end the day at 8,139.83.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “The bidding bonanza for UK-listed firms goes on, and this is acting as a constant reminder to global investors that, even with the FTSE 100 at a record high, UK stocks look cheap compared to their US cousins.

“At this point it almost seems like every major stock in the UK is up for grabs, so traders can hardly be blamed for piling in, in the hope that more big UK names are the subject of takeover offers.”

Across the Channel, sentiment was also positive. The German Dax index was up 1.39% at the close and the Cac 40 in France ended up 0.89%.

Stateside, the main markets opened slightly higher after strong earnings reports from tech giants Microsoft and Google owner Alphabet had helped to boost sentiment.

Meanwhile, sterling dipped against the US dollar, which had been bolstered by hot inflation data in the latest PCE Price Index.

The pound was down 0.27% at 1.247 US dollars and was 0.14% higher at 1.167 euros at market close in London.

In company news, NatWest rose despite revealing its profit slid by more than a quarter at the start of the year.

The banking giant revealed an operating pre-tax profit of £1.3 billion over the first three months of the year, down 27% from £1.8 billion the previous year, but also highlighted higher customer deposits.

Shares in the firm finished 17.6p higher at 307.4p on Friday.

Elsewhere, Darktrace surged in value after it agreed to be acquired by American private equity group Thoma Bravo and become the latest London firm to be taken private.

The cybersecurity firm said the deal, at an agreed price of 7.75 dollars (620p) per share, was worth 5.32 billion dollars (£4.25 billion).

Darktrace shares were 85p higher at 602p when trading closed.

Pearson was a faller despite revealing higher first quarter sales on the back of strong demand for English language and work skills courses.

Shares in the educational publisher were 4.6p lower at 987p.

The price of oil swung back higher after a recent lull in prices amid hopes of calming tensions in the Middle East.

A barrel of Brent crude oil was up by 0.48% to 89.44 US dollars as markets were closing in London.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were NatWest Group, up 17.6p to 307.4p, Ashtead, up 344p to 6,104p, Rolls-Royce, up 15.4p to 421.1p, Intermediate Capital, up 73p to 2,048p, and RS Group, up 24.5p to 732.5p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were ConvaTec, down 17.8p to 257.8p, Beazley, down 20.5p to 638p, Entain, down 25p to 784.2p, Ocado, down 9.2p to 353.1p, and AB Foods, down 51p to 2,635p.