LONDON MARKETS: Aberdeen Rallies In London, Leads FTSE 100 Higher

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s benchmark stock index rose on Monday as Aberdeen Asset Management PLC rallied after an acquisition, although Petrofac Ltd. posted a record decline after an outlook update.

The FTSE 100 index climbed 0.3% to 6,713.78, after gaining 0.4% on Friday.

Aberdeen Asset Management surged 13% after Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG) said it is selling its asset-management business Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Group Ltd. to the U.K. investment manager. Shares of Lloyds rose 1.1%.

Other banks were also on the rise, with Standard Chartered PLC rising 2.1%, and HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC) up 0.7%.

Pointing in the other direction, shares of Petrofac sank 15%, its biggest percentage loss ever, after the oil-services firm said it expects "flat to modest" profit growth in 2014.

Severn Trent PLC inched 0.6% higher after the waste-water utility firm named Liv Garfield as its next chief executive. Garfield is currently the CEO of BT Group PLC's Openreach division. BT shares were little changed.

In the same vein, outsourcing firm Capita PLC dropped 0.6% after announcing the retirement of its chief Executive Paul Pindar.

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