DAVID MYRDDIN-EVANS
Blue-chip stocks made a positive start to the week, with the FTSE 100 gaining 0.26% on Monday to close at 7,370. Resource stocks were the main outperformers as commodity prices moved in their favour.
In early trading on Tuesday the FTSE 100 was up slightly, ahead of key speeches by senior Bank of England policymakers.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.5% overall last week, its first weekly gain since May.
Friday saw a 0.2% gain for the bluechip index, helped by a weaker pound. EasyJet led the risers, up 5.3% on a broker upgrade.
Car insurers were buoyed by talk of possible sector consolidation, with Esure adding 1.7% and Direct Line up 0.5%.
But Royal Mail dropped 3.3% on concerns about growth in its parcels business.
Thursday was a down day for the market, with the FTSE 100 off 0.4%. Reckitt Benckiser lost 1.5% after cutting its growth forecast, while Next sank 1.9% on poor sales numbers.
But AB Foods added 2.6% after reporting better-than-expected trading at its Primark stores.
Housebuilders were up on Wednesday following a strong trading update from Persimmon, whose shares rose 2.4%.
Tesco was lifted 3.8% by a robust trading report from Booker, which the supermarket group has agreed to buy. The FTSE 100 added 0.1%.
Worldpay jumped more than 27% last Tuesday after the payments processor received takeover approaches from US firm Vantiv and JPMorgan. A deal with Vantiv was agreed on Wednesday.
But with US markets closed for the Independence Day holiday last Tuesday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.4%.