Britain’s top share index edged higher on Friday, boosted by a rise in Coca-Cola HBC after it reported encouraging results to help the index extend a recent rebound.

Drinks bottler Coca-Cola HBC AG rose 2.9 per cent in early deals, the top riser on the FTSE 100, after it said it was “encouraged’’ by trading in its first quarter.

Volumes rose, helped in part by a good performance in Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 26.11 points or 0.4 per cent at 6,999.15 by 0735 GMT, taking its rally off of Thursday’s low to 1.5 per cent.

However, the index remains 0.8 per cent lower for the week, with equities globally having been rocked by a rout in the bond market, which investors said was hurting risk appetite.

Fed rate hike

Although that the market steadied on Friday, analysts were looking to a spate of US data later in the session, which could provide clues over the time of a US Federal Reserve rate hike and impact bond yields.

Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct, said that wariness ahead of the US data was helping to cap the FTSE 100 at the 7,000 level.

“There’s still a degree of wariness in pay over US interest rate policy,’’ he said.

“Data due for release later in the day may offer further clues here.’’

The index remains 1.9 per cent below an all time high of 7,122.74, last made in April. It has traded in a tight 300 point range since the start of February.

Among other gainers, broadcaster ITV rose 2 per cent after upgrades from JP Morgan and Bernstein, with Barclays also raising its target price on the stock despite cutting it to “neutral’’ from “overweight’’.

“We continue to see ITV as a well managed company that execute their business plan very well but feel there should be a better opportunity to buy the shares,’’ analysts at Barclays said in a note.

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