FTSE 100 ends February with record close, boosted by earnings

(Reuters) -The UK's benchmark FTSE 100 share index posted its highest close on record on Friday, buoyed by positive corporate earnings including from British Airways parent IAG, while a slump in Morgan Advanced Materials after a bleak outlook weighed on the mid-cap index.

The exporter-heavy FTSE 100 rose 0.6%, also helped by a weaker pound, to end February 1.5% higher after a 6% rise in January.

British engineering firm IMI rose 6.2%, the biggest gainer on the index, after hiking its dividend 10% and announcing a new share buyback plan.

IAG shares rose 4% to their highest in five years, after annual operating profit surged an estimate-beating 27% and the company announced a share buyback.

Weir Group was up 6.3% on a near 10% rise in adjusted annual profit. The engineering firm is set to buy Micromine, a software provider to the mining industry, for 657 million pounds.

The FTSE 250 midcap index fell 0.4% with shares of semiconductor parts supplier Morgan Advanced Materials tumbling 16.2% after the company forecast a drop in organic revenue this year.

A gauge of homebuilders gained 2.1% after data showed British house prices rose by a stronger-than-expected 0.4% in February from the previous month.

Britain's biggest property portal Rightmove gained 4.3% after forecasting bigger revenue growth in 2025.

Other European stock markets came under pressure this week after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% on Chinese goods.

Wall Street's main indexes rose in choppy trading on Friday, rebounding from several sessions of declines.

(Reporting by Sanchayaita Roy, Ragini Mathur and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid, Kirsten Donovan)