Data released this morning showed that British construction output reduced more than expected in Q4, due to reduced infrastructure spend. Following a Q3 decline of 1.7% construction output fell 0.4% during the final quarter; although the ONS has said this will have a negligible impact on growth.

The opening bell on the FTSE was for once not met with red figures across tickers. European markets alike joined an early rally, the FTSE 100 quickly climbing more than 1% in the morning session. Among the few shares losing ground on Friday was BT Group, after UBS downgraded the stock to a sell from a hold, quoting that the stock isn’t an attractive proposition. In other news GlaxoSmithKline was awarded a near £40m fine for illegal anti competition breaches.

Rolls-Royce shares flew at the open, climbing more than 15%. The company simply benefitted from the fact that there were no fresh disappointments.  The same challenges remain and they have announced a dividend cut – the first in 20 years.

Anglo shortly followed Rolls- Royce and midway through the session their shares also climbed >15%. This was due to the fact that Brent oil had a resurrection Friday and at the time of writing was up over 8%. We are singing the blog off a little earlier today as it is the Christmas night out. Yes that’s correct not a typo. As we speak the FTSE is up over 2.5%, and American markets have opened positively with the Dow currently up near 1.5%.