Investec puts a stop to Thomas Cook holiday Although Thomas Cook was under the weather, the wider market was in a sunnier mood thanks to data showing an expansion in British manufacturing. Signs of better economic health helped push the FTSE 100 up 59.74 points to 5,931.25 and the FTSE 250 gained 85.84 points to 11,535.36. Robust results from the likes of Man Group and WPP strengthened the index. After Man's shares dived last September on news that clients had withdrawn more than $2bn (£1.3bn) in funds against a backdrop of "extreme" market volatility, investors were relieved to hear that fund outflows had slowed and the hedge fund manager jumped 16.6 to 147.5p. Other asset managers were in the ascendant as well: Hargreaves Lansdown added 19.3 to 447.6p and Ashmore advanced 6.7 to 392.5p. Some banks were on the march despite Berenberg cutting its price targets and estimates across the sector, arguing that the current repressed financial environment is a very poor one for bank profitability. Barclays added 6.15 to 251.15p but Royal Bank of Scotland eased 0.17 to 27.75p as Berenberg cut its rating on the state-backed bank to "sell" from "buy." Better-than-expected profits lifted advertising giant WPP 24 to 827.5p. It was joined by ITV, which continued to bask in the glow of the profit increase that it unveiled on Thursday. A raft of analysts upped their price target on the broadcaster and it put on another 2.05 to 88p. Upping its price target to 100p from 86p, Numis said that financially ITV was in "robust shape." "The group has demonstrated early success in creating a lean ITV and has benefited from far better than expected advertising over the past two years," the broker added. As passengers finally disembarked from the cruise ship Costa Allegra in the Seychelles, three days after a fire knocked out the ship's main power supply, Carnival added 72p to £19.20. Costa Cruises, which owns the ship, is a unit of Carnival. Panmure Gordon remained bearish on Carnival, which has also had to contend this year with another of Costa's ships, the Concordia, capsizing off Italy. Pointing to comments made by rival cruise operator, Royal Caribbean, which said that the Costa Concordia incident had made an impact on near-term bookings, Panmure said: "We anticipate Carnival's booking trends to be broadly similar to Royal Caribbean's, except for greater declines in Southern Europe, compounded by the recent woes of the Costa Allegra." Weir Group continued to struggle despite the maker of pumps and valves posting a jump in annual profits on Wednesday. Cutting its rating to "hold," Panmure Gordon said that "Weir's plate is fairly full now and, with this risk in mind, we are calling a time-out." Weir fell 76p to £20.30. Among the second-liners, traders piled into Cable & Wireless Worldwide, up 4.1 to 31.98p, as it emerged that India's Tata Communications was considering a tilt at the telecommunications business. Howden Joinery added 9.3 to 125.5p as the kitchen supplier announced its first dividend in four years and Spirent Communications rose 10.9 to 151.8p. But miners missed out, with Petropavlovsk slipping 43 to 675.5p and Allied Gold Mining falling 6 to 105p as it swung to an annual loss of almost $6m. Mass Effect 3 fall-out still drags on Game Beleagured video games retailer, Game Group, slipped another 0.12 to 4.8p as analysts digested the news that it will not be stocking an eagerly-awaited new game. Shares in Game fell more than 16pc on Thursday following revelations of a falling-out with video games developer Electronic Arts, which will result in Game not stocking Mass Effect 3. Game's shares fell further as analysts at Singer suggested that by not stocking this game, which plunges players into a galactic war, Game will miss out on £6m-£7m in sales, resulting in a potential profit shortfall of £2m-£2.5m. While Singer kept its "sell" rating, Peel Hunt analysts were more positive, keeping their "hold" stance and pointing to factors such as upcoming console releases that should be a "significant source of future revenue."