FTSE 100 continues record run, Darktrace rallies on buyout deal

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April 26 (Reuters) –The UK’s FTSE 100 hit fresh highs on Friday as strong earnings from U.S. tech giants buoyed global sentiment, while cybersecurity firm Darktrace rallied following a buyout deal by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE was up 0.6% as of 0725 GMT, hitting a record-high for the fourth consecutive session. The index is set for its biggest weekly gain in more than seven months.

Sentiment in Asian and broader European markets was optimistic after upbeat earnings from Wall Street tech titans Alphabet GOOGL.O and Microsoft MSFT.O. .N

NatWest NWG.L jumped 3.4% to touch a more than one-year-high after the British bank’s first-quarter profit fell by a less-than-expected 27%.

Anglo American AAL.L slipped 0.8% after it rejected BHP Group’s BHP.AX 31.1 billion pound ($38.88 billion) takeover proposal, saying the bid significantly undervalued the London-listed miner and its future prospects. The stock had rallied 16% following BHP’s offer on Thursday.

BHP’s UK-listed stock BHPB.L fell 0.9%.

The mip-cap FTSE 250 .FTMC gained 0.6%, with Darktrace DARK.L rallying 16.5% after Thoma Bravo agreed to buy the firm for about $5.32 billion.

British consumer sentiment returned to a two-year high this month as households took a more positive view of the economy and their own finances, a long-running survey showed.

Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema

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