Arm Holdings boosted by M&A chatter in the semiconductor sector

The FTSE 100 bounced back from three days of losses, buoyed by strong results from Unilever and a rally in Arm Holdings.

The telegraph, Oct. 15, 2015 – 

Arm Holdings tracked gains made in the US semiconductors industry to become one of the biggest risers on the FTSE 100 on Thursday.

Read across from the US helped the chip designer - which makes products for Samsung and Apple - climb 46.5p, or 5pc, to 979.5p as a host of M&A talk triggered a rally on Wall Street in the previous trading session.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose more than 3pc to a two-month high on Wednesday, after reports surfaced two companies were interested in buying Sandisk - the third-largest manufacturer of flash memory in the world.

David Madden, of IG, said: "The semiconductor sector has had a record year for M&A activity which totalled $76bn, and the year isn't over yet." "While chatter of buyouts is doing the rounds, and the cost of borrowing it cheap the sector will stay in demand."

Meanwhile, US semiconductor Linear Technologies also boosted its peers, after it said it was feeling optimistic about future quarters. Earlier this year, the company had flagged a China-led demand slowdown

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