| London close: Stocks end up despite pound rally as GDP data pleases London stocks ended the week in style despite a rally in the pound, as investors digested solid UK growth figures. The FTSE 100 closed up 0.7% to 7,665.54, while the pound was up 0.1% against the euro to 1.1418 and 0.3% versus the dollar at 1.4187 as data from the Office for National Statistics showed the British economy grew more strongly than expected in the final three months of 2017, increasing the chances that the Bank of England could raise interest rates again this year. Gross domestic product grew 0.5% in the fourth quarter from October to December, compared to the preceding quarter. This was an improvement from 0.4% in the third quarter and on the 0.4% the market expected. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2016, GDP growth slowed to 1.5%, from the 1.7% annual growth in the previous quarter, but again this was better than the 1.4% consensus forecast. This meant growth for 2017 as a whole was 1.8%, only slightly lower than the 1.9% in 2016. Overall industrial production growth slowed from 1.3% to 0.6%, while the construction sector's recession intensified, with growth falling from -0.5% to -1.0%. This was offset, however, by a pick-up in growth in the more dominant services sector, from 0.4% to 0.6%, which was the strongest quarterly increase in the year. It was a different picture in the US, however, where preliminary fourth-quarter GDP figures missed expectations. CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "The downward trend in the US dollar is showing no signs of letting up, and the pound is being propped up by it. "Sterling has slipped since the morning, but the upward trend is still in place so we could see new buyers enter the market." The dollar managed to pare some of its earlier losses later in the day as it found some support from Trump's remarks at Davos, as he said that ultimately he wants the currency to be strong. In UK corporate news, AstraZeneca rose after saying it found a statistically significant improvement in eight out of nine lung patients as it tested its 'PT010' combination drug delivered with a pressurised metered-dose inhaler in late-stage clinical trials. Rival GlaxoSmithKline was on the up after saying that its asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease drug Relvar Ellipta has received a "positive opinion" from EU regulators. Just Eat rose as RBC Capital Markets said in a note in which it considered the most likely potential internet M&A scenarios that the company's cash reserves and more sophisticated data analytics could benefit Takeaway.com and provide greater firepower to compete with Delivery Hero in Germany. Spectris ended up after announcing the acquisition of Concept Life Sciences from Equistone Partners Europe and company management for £163m, on a debt and cash-free basis and met from existing cash and bank facilities. On the downside, sports betting and gaming group GVC Holdings slumped as it said it has made a provision of around €200m in its 2017 financial accounts after its Greek subsidiary received a €186.77m tax bill for 2010 and 2011. The company, which pointed out that it was one of a number of online gaming operators that had been hit with a Greek tax bill, said it plans to appeal the assessment. HICL Infrastructure slipped as it updated the market on its operations following the collapse of Carillion earlier in the month, reporting that its priority is the continuation of services to public sector clients and the users of the facilities at the affected PPP projects. Precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources lost their shine as gold and silver prices retreated. On the broker note front, Goldman made some changes to its stance on utility and water stocks, upgrading National Grid to 'neutral' and initiated covered of Severn Trent, United Utilities and Pennon at 'sell' and 'neutral', respectively. Meanwhile, building materials group CRH was lifted to 'neutral' by Exane BNP Paribas while WPP was initiated at 'underperform' by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. | 
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