By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
U.K. stocks rose Friday, with gains for Vodafone PLC shares
helping to push the benchmark FTSE 100 to a weekly win.
Meanwhile, the pound (GBPUSD) was knocked down by more than 1%
against the dollar, as a stronger-than-expected reading for U.S.
consumer prices
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-healthcare-behind-strong-rise-in-core-inflation-in-april-2015-05-22)
in April bolstered the greenback (DXY) against major rivals. The
rise in April core consumer prices signaled inflation in the U.S.
may be on track to hit the Federal Reserve's target. Analysts noted
that low trading volume exacerbated sterling's decline, which late
Thursday bought $1.5661.
Read: The euro just plummeted against the dollar
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-euro-just-plummeted-against-the-dollar-2015-05-22).
The FTSE 100 ended 0.3% higher at 7,031.72, a fifth consecutive
advance. It finished the week with a gain of 1%. But that move
wasn't enough to fully wipe out last week's decline of 1.2%.
Vodafone PLC (VOD) topped the FTSE 100 on Friday by charging up
4.6%. Shares of the mobile services company since Wednesday have
jumped more than 11%, with the rally sparked after a Bloomberg
report quoted Liberty Global PLC (LBTYA) Chairman John Malone as
saying Vodafone would be a "great fit" for his cable company's
operations in Western Europe.
Shares of building materials provider Travis Perkins PLC put in
a strong showing as well on Friday, rising 1.5% following a ratings
upgrade to buy from underperform at Jefferies. Jefferies lifted its
ratings on other U.K. building materials companies after "having
been cautious for some time." Wolseley PLC shares picked up 0.4%
after also being upgraded to buy from underperform.
But on the downside, shares of Severn Trent PLC shed 0.4% after
the water company said pretax profit fell for the year to March 31
by 54% to 148.2 million pounds ($232.5 million)
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/severn-trent-underlying-earnings-edge-up-in-fy15-2015-05-22-24854539).
Underlying profit before tax rose 8.8% to GBP300.4 million.
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