By Shivani Kumaresan and Devik Jain
(Reuters) -London's FTSE 100 rose on Friday, supported by banks and energy stocks but clocked its worst weekly performance since February on inflation worries, while Sanne Group topped the mid-cap index after rejecting a $1.90 billion buyout proposal.
The blue-chip index rose 1.2%, with Banks and oil majors BP (LON:BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) being the biggest boosts to the index. The index is down 1.2% for the week, its biggest weekly fall since February.[nL8N2N11OT]
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set out what he describes as a "cautious but irreversible" route out of lockdown for England, starting next week. He has, however, warned that new variants could derail that.
"Monday, the UK unlocks another part of the lockdown. That has given confidence to the market and we have had boisterous commentary from players of the Bank of England this week about growth picking up steam," said Keith Temperton, a sales trader at Forte Securities.
"Everyone’s got their eyes on inflation right now and that will be the driver for markets from here on. So the CPI data next week will be hotly watched."
After rising nearly 11% this year on reopening optimism, the FTSE 100 has pared some of those gains in the last few sessions on worries that central banks might tighten their ultra-loose monetary policies sooner than expected to curb inflation.
The domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index advanced 1.2%.
Software company Sage Group (LON:SGE) added 3.8% after reporting strong first-half organic recurring revenue and forecasting annual growth at the top end of its 3% to 5% range.
Spirits maker Diageo (LON:DGE) rose 1.5% after brokerages raised their price targets on the stock.
Alternative asset and corporate services firm Sanne Group jumped 21.2% after it rejected private-equity firm Cinven's 1.35-billion-pound ($1.90 billion) buyout offer. [nL4N2N11OS]