Rolls Royce and ITV among gainers as FTSE100 closes higher


(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)Rolls Royce (LON:RR.) and ITV (LON:ITV) were among the big name risers as Britain's blue chips closed higher on Friday. The UK benchmark closed out a relatively busy week around 27 points higher at 6696. ITV shares added 3.35% to 280.7p as it emerged its biggest shareholder Liberty Global has hiked its stake in the television broadcaster to around 9.9% and broker Liberum reckons the rumours of a takeover are inevitable. 'Liberty has stated it does not intend to make a bid for ITV but its move suggests that it thinks a move by another player is likely or at least an increasing possibility' the broker said. Liberty owned by American investor John Malone last year bought its initial stake of 6.4%. Engineer Rolls saw shares add almost 6% to 794p as American activist investor ValueAct  became the largest shareholder after taking a stake. Also on investor radar was a clutch of data including US wages stats showing salaries  rose in the second quarter at the slowest pace on record and positive July manufacturing data. Elsewhere  German retail sales rose 5.1% last month (June) beating expectations for a 4% increase. On Footsie cruise ship operator Carnival (LON: CCL) was a notable riser adding 5.21% to 3552p - riding on the good second quarter results news from its peer Royal Caribbean. The biggest laggard on FTSE100 was Lloyds (LON:LLOY) which shed  3.28% to 83.2p as it set aside an extra £1.4bn for PPI mis-selling as it missed profit expectations in the first half of the year. Interim profits rose 38% to £1.2bn compared to expectations of £1.9bn while revenue slipped back 2% compared to the previous quarter at £4.6bn. In small cap world a standout riser was ServicePower Technologies' (LON:SVR) chairman which gained 20.59% to 5.125p as he bought himself another £90000 worth of shares. The non-executive director bought 2mln shares at 4.5p. Meanwhile Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) said results of its OXPzero Naproxen (OXP005) were not as some had expected with the company saying further testing will be needed to improve the results. Shares dropped 16.67% to 15p. Anglesey Mining (LON:AYM) shares shed over 43% to 1.13p as it posted its annual report. The firm said the long term outlook for lead and zinc remains favourable but it is a difficult time for the junior resource sector. Proxama (LON:PROX) rose 9.09% to 0.12p as it has added the Standard Bank of South Africa to its client list after striking a deal with its subsidiary Diners Club to provide payment management systems. Enegi Oil (LON:ENEG) rose 11.11% to 0.075p as it told investors that engineering group Arup has been signed up to the marginal field consortium. Together the consortium is exploring new approaches to better develop offshore oil fields which under traditional development scenarios are deemed marginally economic.


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