Footsie enjoys seventh week of rising tide

The FTSE 100 ended the week in positive territory as analysts signalled London’s top flight could soon hit new highs if it continues its upward trajectory.

The blue chip index closed up 23.58 points, up at 7,724.55.

It represented the seventh successive week of gains and comes a day after the Bank of England opted to keep interest rates on hold, despite having signalled a hike was on the cards only weeks ago.

Experts believe the FTSE 100 could break its all-time intraday high of 7,792.56, which was achieved in mid-january.

“Maintaining this pace of growth would put the blue chip index at new record highs early next week,” according to Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. In stocks, ITV was building on gains booked on Thursday, when it reported a 5 per cent rise in total external first-quarter revenue. Shares ended up 11.65p at 172p.

Barclays shares advanced 0.65p to 214.45p, even as chief executive Jes Staley was fined £642,430 by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for his attempt to unmask a whistleblower.

The City watchdog concluded that he failed to “act with due skill, care and diligence” in 2016, when he tried to identify the author of a letter sent to Barclays.

Shares in ZPG, the company behind Zoopla, surged over 30 per cent, or 114.8p, to 490p following news that it is to be taken over by US private equity firm Silver Lake Management for £2.2 billion.