It's been a Black Friday in the US sense of the phrase rather than the UK one. After a week of jitters, leading shares in London have ended on a positive note today.
Black Friday is the name given to the day after Thanksgiving Thursday, when American shoppers are supposed to start their Christmas spending spree. In contrast with Black Monday and Black Wednesday, which refer to days of plummeting share prices, it is supposed to be a positive piece of nomenclature.
And despite fears to the contrary, so it proved today. Wall Street defied the sceptics by opening around 100 points higher, and this in turn lifted the FTSE 100, which closed up 106.8 points at 6262.1.
Take a recovery among the housebuilders, add in some bid speculation in the mining sector and top it off with a £1bn hostile bid for waste management group Biffa, and you have a recipe for a positive end to the week.
But not for controversial oil explorer Regal Petroleum. Two days ago the company signed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell for the oil giant to take a 51% stake in two Ukrainian fields owned by Regal. Yesterday Regal said David Greer, who resigned his executive post at Shell earlier this year, would become its new chief executive, and today Shell canned the Ukrainian deal. Shell said the memorandum of understanding was signed with the previous management and it had not expected the change at the top of the company. Regal apparently wanted to review its options, so Shell has walked away. Regal shares closed down 23p to 140p.
