FTSE 100 ends week over 4,000, Tesco and GlaxoSmithKline results next week

The FTSE 100 closed up 39.82 points Friday meaning the index remained above 4,000 for the second day. With large UK firms including Tesco, GlaxoSmithKline and Associated British Foods releasing results next week, could there be a further rally for the FTSE 100?

The index ended up 2.6% over the week, albeit a shortened week because of Easter.

Banks performed well on Friday on the back of better than expected results from Citigroup and General Electric.

Both companies though maintained a cautious outlook.

Lloyds Banking Group saw a rise of 16.6%, and RBS just under a 14% rise.

RBS was in fact the most widely traded stock with 256 million shares changing hands.

In telecoms, BT Group were up nearly 10%.

Turning to next week.

Tesco will be releasing their preliminary results. They have undertaken a lot of market campaigns so it will be interesting to see whether they have been able to build on last year’s figures.

That said, the Tesco trading update in January saw record performance and both Tesco Direct and Tesco Finance have shown strong growth.

This leads some analysts to expect strong results to be posted.

In contrast, Associated British Foods interim results are not expected to be so good.

The Group is likely to be propped up by particularly good results from their clothing division, Primark.

If the results from Tesco and Associated British Foods, along with the others reporting next week, including GlaxoSmithKline, Alliance Trust and Domino’s Pizza, are better than expected then just maybe the FTSE 100 will continue to rally.