LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Edges Up, But On Track For Best Week In Two Months

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

CRH, Tullow Oil emerge as top performers

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks edged higher Friday, with shares of CRH PLC and Tullow Oil PLC emerging as top performers on the FTSE 100, as the benchmark heads toward a weekly rise.

The FTSE 100 picked up 0.1% to 6,971.20. It was on track for gain of 3.5% for the week, which would be its best weekly rise in about two months.

CRH shares shares gained 3.6% after cement companies Lafarge SA (LFRGY) and Holcim Ltd. (HCMLY) agreed new terms for their $44 billion merger (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/holcim-lafarge-agree-new-terms-for-44-billion-merger-deal-2015-03-20), which had appeared to be on the verge of collapse. CRH had planned to purchase assets from each company as part of their agreement.

Tullow Oil shares climbed 2% after the oil producer said it landed an extra $450 million in financing under its existing credit facilities.

The funding marks "another important step in the comprehensive re-setting of our business and financing and demonstrates the resilience of our debt capital structure and the quality of our portfolio to generate significant liquidity, even at low oil prices," said Tullow's Chief Financial Officer Ian Springett in a statement.

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. After the market close, Tullow shares will move into the midcap FTSE 250 index, with trading of shares to start there on Monday.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC shares will begin trading on the FTSE 100 on Monday. Its shares on Friday were down 0.8%.

But limiting a stronger gain on the FTSE 100 were shares of miners, consumer-goods and financial companies. Miner Anglo American PLC was at the bottom of the FTSE 100 as its shares fell 1.6%.

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