On the London equities markets on Friday, the FTSE 100 gained 0.3 percent to 5,359.3 and the FTSE 250 was up 0.5 percent to 7,851.1. These results capped a week in which the FTSE 100 added 0.6 percent and the FTSE 250 advanced by 0.8 percent.

Most attention during the week had to do with mergers and acquisitions. Industrial gasses specialist BOC Group and rival Linde of Germany were said to be close to a merger deal, keeping BOC close to record high levels at £11.16.

Retailer Tesco lost 0.7 percent to 329¼p on rumors that it was interested in buying Albertson’s, second only to Wal-Mart in the US. Support services company Rentokil, being pursued by Sir Gerry Robinson, lost 0.2 percent to 163¼p.

Elsewhere, housebuilders were up. McCarthy & Stone, the UK’s biggest builder of retirement homes, gained 5.1 percent to 602p on the announcement that this year’s sales would not be down as much as it had earlier estimated. This news helped Westbury up by 2.6 percent to 450½p, while George Wimpey added 2.6 percent to 425¾p.