Markets: Up

Siebec, which specialises in industrial control components, gained 12 per cent last week after it received regulatory clearance in the US to proceed with the acquisition of Simulation Sciences, which will enable it to expand a line of software that helps companies control costs. This is one of a string of acquisitions by Siebe. Last month it announced the purchase of Eurotherm, which will make Siebe the world's largest maker of assembly line controls.

Engineering and construction stocks gained last week as the pound fell against the mark and dollar. "If earnings hold up, the industrials are looking cheap," said Graham Campbell at Edinburgh Fund Managers. "We've been increasing our weightings."