By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

Lloyds rises, Tullow Oil exits FTSE 100 on a high note

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s benchmark FTSE 100 leapt to its highest level on Friday, powered by mining stocks and energy shares, including Tullow Oil PLC, as it moved out of the blue-chip index.

The FTSE 100 climbed 0.9% to 7,022.51, the first time it's crossed above the 7,000 level. The gain pushed the benchmark to a weekly gain of 4.2%, its best weekly rise in about two months.

A decline in the U.S. dollar (DXY) fueled gains for dollar-denominated oil and metals prices, in turn boosting shares of energy and mining companies. In the energy complex, U.S. oil futures (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-stay-choppy-ahead-of-rig-count-data-2015-03-20)(CLJ5) climbed 5% and Brent crude futures rose more than 1%. The dollar resumed its selloff Friday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-steadies-on-renewed-views-of-early-fed-rate-increase-2015-03-20-21031353) on expectations that Federal Reserve policy makers would leave interest rates lower for longer.

Miner Anglo American PLC was the best performer on the FTSE 100 as its shares rose 5.2%. Glencore PLC ended 4.7%, while oil major BP PLC rose 2.3%.

Tullow Oil: Tullow shares climbed 3.5% after the oil producer said it landed an extra $450 million in financing under its existing credit facilities. The additional funding came despite the recent slump in oil prices, said Tullow.

The funding marks "a rare piece of good news to help continue to lift the shares away from their recent bottoming out earlier this week around [GBP2.80]," wrote Lewis Sturdy, dealer at London Capital Group, in a note.

The recent slide in oil prices contributed to a drop in Tullow's market capitalization below what's required to stay on the FTSE 100. Tullow shares on Monday will be found on the midcap FTSE 250 index .

Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC shares will begin trading on the FTSE 100 on Monday. Its shares on Friday fell 3.4%.

Deal moves: Lloyds shares rose 1.4% after TSB Banking Group agreed to a GBP1.7 billion ($2.54 billion) takeover bid (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sabadell-agrees-to-254-billion-takeover-of-tsb-2015-03-20) from Spain's Banco de Sabadell SA . Lloyds is the largest shareholder in TSB, and would still have a 40% stake in that company if a deal is approved.

TSB shares rose 2.1% to GBP3.34 on the FTSE 250 index . Sabadell's offer was for GBP3.40 a share.

Sabadell's offer appears "very likely" to be accepted by the majority of shareholders, but risk remains the European financial regulator or the U.K.'s Prudential Regulation Authority blocks the deal, said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Laith Khalaf and Richard Hunter in a note Friday. "This risk looks remote, but the market is clearly still wary, which explains why the [TSB's] stock is trading as far below the offer price as it is."

Meanwhile, the apparent revival of a merger agreement between cement companies Lafarge SA and Holcim Ltd. aided London-listed shares of CRH . CRH shares gained 5.6% after Lafarge (LFRGY) and Holcim (HCMLY) drafted new terms for their $44 billion merger proposal (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/holcim-lafarge-agree-new-terms-for-44-billion-merger-deal-2015-03-20), which had recently appeared to be on the verge of collapse. CRH had planned to purchase assets from the French and the Swiss companies as part of their merger proposal.

The FTSE 100's decliners on Friday included Centrica PLC . Shares fell 0.3% after Moody's Investors Service downgraded its rating on British Gas' parent company to Baa 1 from A3. The move came "primarily because lower energy prices and generally poorer trading conditions have hurt the company's profitability and weakened its financial profile," said Moody's.

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

Tullow Oil (LSE:TLW)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Tullow Oil Charts.
Tullow Oil (LSE:TLW)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Tullow Oil Charts.