LONDON: Britain’s benchmark FTSE 100 scored its fourth consecutive record high on Friday as strong earnings from US tech giants buoyed investor sentiment, while cybersecurity firm Darktrace rallied following a buyout deal by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 ended the session up 0.8%, after hitting a fresh all-time high of 8,146.79 points earlier in the day. On a weekly basis, the index marked its biggest gains since mid-September.
“The combination of recovering earnings and reasonable prices continue to make things look quite attractive for the UK market,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group.
Sentiment in Asian and broader European markets also gained support from upbeat earnings from Wall Street tech titans Alphabet and Microsoft.
Among stocks at home, NatWest jumped 6.1% to the top of FTSE 100, touching a more than one-year-high after the British bank’s first-quarter profit…
