| Far from a quiet stroll ahead of the long Easter weekend, Thursday’s session saw the tense conclusion of the soap opera-style GKN/Melrose will-they-won't-they drama, while a deluge of economic data and regulatory decisions to kept investors gripped down to the wire. The FTSE 100 index closed just 11.87 points higher or 0.17% at 7,056.61, after a late dose of volatility. The pound was down 0.3% against the dollar at 1.4031 and down 0.2% on the euro 1.1409. After almost three months of tit-for-tat exchanges, GKN shareholders accepted the £8.1bn hostile bid from turnaround specialist Melrose Industries. Just half an hour before the close, FTSE 250-listed Melrose said that it received valid acceptances representing around 52.4% of the voting rights of FTSE 100-listed GKN. Melrose had recently lowered its acceptance condition for the takeover to 50% plus one share. Not long after, the GKN board, grudgingly and still insisting to the very last that the offer "fundamentally undervalues" the business, said it "now recommends that, in the event that the offer is declared wholly unconditional by Melrose, shareholders accept the offer". Earlier in more M&A news, Michael Spencer's NEX agreed to be taken over by Chicago's CME Group for £3.9bn in cash and shares. CME will pay 500p in cash and 0.0444 new shares for each NEX share, which values NEX 1000p per share, a high-ball bid that analysts suggested could be big enough to deter rivals such as LSE or ICE from gatecrashing. There was also late drama for Barclays, as the bank settled its long-running case with America's Department of Justice over its conduct involving residential mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. The lender has agreed to pay the DoJ $2.0bn (£1.42bn) in civil penalties in exchange for the dismissal of the US government's complaint, which was slightly less than the £1.5bn expected. The morning had seen a barrage of UK data confirming economic growth slowed at the end of last year but accompanied by more timely figures on the services sector, consumer spending and borrowing suggested there could be a first quarter pick-up. UK gross domestic product grew 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the third, the Office for National Statistics said in its final reading on the measure, in line with its second estimate a month ago. GDP growth slowed to 1.4% compared to the same quarter a year before from 1.8% in the third quarter, also as expected. Figures from the Bank of England showed that consumers and businesses borrowed at a faster rate in February, suggesting a firming of confidence in the economy after a shaky few months. Consumer credit rose by £1.6bn, up from £1.3bn in January and more than the £1.5bn six-month average. Net lending to non-financial companies showed a sharp jump, rising by £1.7bn after virtually flatlining in January. February’s figure was more than three times the six-month average of £500m. The annual rate of growth picked up to 3.2% from 3%. Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte, said: "Household spending power has been flatlining for the last two years. That has forced consumers to run down savings and borrow more just to sustain sluggish growth in spending. "2018 should offer some relief, with falling inflation and stronger wage growth helping boost consumer spending power." Earlier, the latest survey from Gfk revealed that the UK consumer is feeling slightly more confident about personal finances and the general economic situation as recent improvements in wage growth and inflation boost spirits. The long-running consumer confidence index from GfK climbed three points over the month of March but still remained negative at -7, worse than at this stage last year. However, all five of the constituent measures improved in March compared to February and January. Meanwhile, mortgage lender Nationwide’s survey for March showed that house price growth unexpectedly slowed. Prices were up 2.1% on the year, slowing down from a 2.2% increase in February and below the 2.6% gain expected by economists. On the month, house prices fell 0.2% and although this was better than the 0.4% decline seen the month before, analysts had been expecting a 0.2% increase. London was the worst-performing region again, with average house prices down 1% compared with a year ago. Going back to the company news, Sky announced late in the day that its Italian arm has agreed a long-term deal with Open Fiber to launch a fibre broadband service from summer 2019, to drive long-term growth in fibre and Pay-TV services. Shire was in the red despite saying it has gained regulatory acceptances from the EU and Canada for its lanadelumab treatment for hereditary angioedema. Earlier in the week, its shares rallied as it emerged that Japan’s Takeda was considering making an offer for the group. Credit Suisse said there were several obstacles to a Takeda bid but suggested other bidders could include Pfizer, which has the required scale as well an interest in haemophilia and rare diseases. Indivior got a shot in the arm from new of a license agreement agreed with UK-based drug discovery outfit C4X Discovery Holdings, whereby Indivior UK obtained exclusive global rights to develop and commercialise C4X's oral orexin-1 receptor antagonist programme. Elsewhere, Compass Group was on the back foot as French peer Sodexo cut its full-year sales guidance. Moneysupermarket gained ground as it agreed to buy home communications and mobile phone comparison business Decision Tech for £40m. Qinetiq was up as its pre-close trading statement met expectations, while IP Group rallied on the back of its full-year numbers. JD Wetherspoon was down after alcohol supplier Conviviality, a major wholesaler to pubs and off licences, said it plans to call in the administrators. In broker note action, Morrisons was upgraded to ‘outperform’ at Bernstein, while WH Smith was lifted to ‘buy’ at Stifel. Citi upgraded Cineworld to ‘buy’ and Peel Hunt bumped Electrocomponents up to ‘add’. SIG was raised to ‘equalweight’ at Barclays. However, Ted Baker was downgraded to ‘hold’ by Jefferies and Provident Financial was hit by a downgrade to ‘sell’ at Berenberg. InterContinental Hotels, 888 Holdings, Bovis Homes, British Land, CLS Holdings, Prudential, Sanne, Ferrexpo and Softcat were among the companies whose stock went ex-dividend on Thursday. | 
