Friday, 21^st September: News surfaced that Uber was in talks of buying Deliveroo on Friday morning, which consequently sent Just Eat to the bottom of the index. Although Just Eat hold a competitive edge due to their vast customer network, the spending power given to Uber if the Deliveroo acquisition goes ahead would place immense pressure on Just Eat. By the afternoon, Just Eat was down more than 5.0% and at the bottom of the blue-chip index.

Joining them at the bottom was Smiths Group, following the release of their full year results, regardless of a 3.0% increase in their total dividend. The fall in the share price was driven by a disappointing second half, particularly in the medical division, which experienced a 7% decline in revenue. In a separate statement from the full year results the group also announced the sale of their medical water bottling business for $40 million to Amsino Healthcare, which is anticipated to be completed during the first half of 2019 and will allow the group to concentrate on their programme to focus on specific markets and reinvest in further growth opportunities.

The handful of laggards on the index were not enough to have any type of significant impact on the FTSE 100, which climbed higher throughout the entirety of the day, allowing it to reverse most of the losses suffered so far in September. The gains on the index were mainly caused by the beating sterling took due to the drama surrounding Brexit and the EU rejecting May’s Chequers plan.

The FTSE 100 is up 2.5% in comparison to last weeks close, largely due to the 1.67% increase today, which allowed the index to finish the week at 7490.