M&G's life and pensions arm said it has suspended a 164 million pound property fund, days after the British fund manager froze dealing in its 2.5 billion pound ($3.21 billion) flagship UK property fund.

The leak and distribution of classified UK-U.S. trade documents online is tied to a previous Russian disinformation campaign, social media site Reddit said on Friday, fuelling fears that Moscow is seeking to interfere in Britain's upcoming election.

Ecuador's state-run oil company Petroecuador said on Friday it had awarded a unit of Royal Dutch Shell a contract to lift some 20.2 million barrels of Oriente-grade crude between 2020 and 2023.

Ecuador's state-run oil company Petroecuador said on Friday it had awarded a unit of Royal Dutch Shell a contract to lift some 20.2 million barrels of Oriente-grade crude between 2020 and 2023. (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia Writing by Luc Cohen)

Nuclear power generation in France plunged nearly 11 % year-on-year in November to 29.1 terawatt hour (TWh) state-controlled utility EDF said on Friday, citing a high volume of reactor outages.

* London's FTSE 100 logs best day since July (Updates prices to close, adds stocks reaction to U.S. jobs data)

* Co also had funding offer from Andrew Tinkler (Adds percentage of votes from meeting)

Aston Martin, which was reported this week to be the target of Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, said it was not actively pursuing new investors on Friday as it opened a new factory to build its first sport utility vehicle.

Aston Martin's two major shareholders are in it for the long term and the company is not actively soliciting participation, the firm's boss said on Friday after a media report said Lawrence Stroll, owner of Formula One team Racing Point, is preparing a bid for a major stake.

British investment company Centricus and European Insurance Consolidation Group have formed a joint venture to buy up European books of life insurance policies closed to new customers, Centricus said on Friday.