Good morning from London and welcome to the final market report of a somewhat bruising week here in the City. London’s blue chip index has gone from threatening to break through the 7,700 point ceiling earlier this week to scudding along at around 7,500 today.
Looking at the big winners and losers so far today, its communication services group WPP that been hit hardest in early trading after it announced a cut to its full-year guidance on the back of lower US tech spending.
Also falling at the open was professional services firm Capita, which revealed a March cyber-attack will ultimately end up costing it more than anticipated at between £20 and 25 million.
Interestingly its two gambling firms who are leading the early risers though, with Flutter and Entain both getting their weekends started early at the top of the gainers table.
Over in the US Apple failed to woo investors with third-quarter earnings that were at the top end of its expectations, as the tech giant actually reported faltering iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales.
And here on London’s AIM market, innovative battery firm Ilika jumped after penning a 10-year manufacturing rights agreement with complex medical device group Cirtec Medical. That’s all for this week, have a great weekend