Listed hedge fund Man Group was the strongest riser at the end of the day, after being upgraded to 'buy' status by Numis.

It has been an eventful week for the group which saw share price rise by 5.8 per cent to 229p. Earlier this week, its acquisition of asset management firm GLG Partners was approved by shareholders.

The hedge fund was followed by software group Autonomy, as share price rose by 5.2 per cent to 1,716p as speculation linking it with a potential takeover heightened.

Aerospace and defence firm BAE Systems and hospitality company Whitbread both saw share price increase by 3.7 per cent to 313.3p and 1,515p respectively.

Tullow Oil was the biggest faller as share price slid by 3.97 per cent to 1,185p. The firm had earlier signed agreements with Africa Oil to acquire a 50 per cent interest in five licences across the East African Rift Basin in Kenya and Ethiopia.

The firm  will reimburse costs in each of the licence block and will carry Africa Oil for future net expenditures of up to £15.4 million ($23.75 million).

Angus McCoss, exploration director, said the move was positive, having recently discovered more than 2.5 billion barrels of oil in the neighbouring Lake Albert Rift Basin.

Fellow oil company Cairn Energy saw share price drop by 3.5 per cent to 455.6p as oil prices pulled back.

Microchip manufacturer Arm Holdings fell by 3.8 per cent to 360p as reports suggested that Intel's acquisition of Infenion's wireless unit was neutral rather than positive for the firm.