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(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 opened higher in London on Friday morning, while other stocks remained downbeat, as a nationwide tech outage combined with gloomy retail sales data at the start of the day.
Companies around the world reported technical issues, with planes grounded, trains disrupted, and television and radio broadcasters taken offline. According to Sky News, Berlin Airport has halted all flights until 0900 BST, while Microsoft Corp said it was taking mitigating actions after service issues.
The regulatory news service of the London Stock Exchange was not updating on Friday morning. Calls to RNS for comment were not answered early Friday.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 17.43 points, or 0.2%, at 8,204.89. The FTSE 250 was up 2.84 points at 21,096.18, while the AIM All-Share was down 3.42 points, or 0.4%, at 784.25.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.7% at 813.33, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.5% at 18,440.28, and the Cboe Small Companies was fractionally higher at 17,352.99.
Stocks were something of a mixed bag at the open, as opinion polls put in a good word for new UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, while local data did little to impress.
According to the Office for National Statistics, UK retail sales volumes fell by 1.2% in June from a month before, swinging from a rise in May, thanks to gloomy weather. This compared to FXStreet-cited market consensus of a 0.4% monthly decline in June.
On an annual basis, sales fell by 0.2% in June.
Similarly underwhelming, consumer confidence saw only a subdued increase, as a "wait and see" stance on the economy prevailed. GfK's long-running Consumer Confidence Index increased by one point to minus 13 in July. FXStreet-cited consensus had been expecting a reading of minus 12.
Nevertheless, Keir Starmer ended his first week as UK prime minister as popular as Boris Johnson was at the height of the vaccine rollout, a poll has found.
Some 36% of the public told pollster Ipsos they thought Starmer was doing a good job as prime minister, the highest rating for a premier since February 2021 when 37% said the same about Johnson.
Just 14% of the public think the new prime minister is doing a bad job, well below the 41% that thought negatively of Johnson in February 2021 – and the 57% that thought badly of Rishi Sunak just before he called the election.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.2%.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, producer prices declines as expected annually in Germany in June.
Producer prices fell 1.6% year-on-year in Germany in June, decelerated from a contraction of 2.2% in May. The decline in June was in line with the FXStreet-cited consensus. Monthly, producer prices edged up 0.2% in June, compared to no change the statistical office had reported for May.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2924 early on Friday, lower than USD1.2972 at the London equities close on Thursday. The euro traded at USD1.0882, lower than USD1.0908. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY157.26, up versus JPY156.70.
In the FTSE 100, Rolls-Royce, Auto Trader, and Relx were among the few winners, inching 0.7%, 0.2%, and 0.1% higher respectively. By contrast, Spirax, Fresnillo, and Beazley were the index's biggest losers, down 5.7%, 4.6%, and 4.2% respectively.
Segro lost 0.9%, after its Italian joint venture, Segro European Logistics, disposed of logistics warehouse assets.
The London-based property investment firm sold four warehouses, two located in Milan and two in Rome, covering 338,745 square metres for a EUR327 million cash consideration. The portfolio is fully leased to three customers in the online and traditional retail sectors, and generates a passing rent of EUR19 million with an average lease term of 10.5 years.
GSK lost 1.5%, even after its Blenrep combinations in multiple myeloma application was accepted for review by the European Medicines Agency.
The approval follows positive trial results, which showed significant progression-free survival benefit and positive overall survival trends for Blenrep combinations versus standard of care.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 2.0%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.8%.
Japanese inflation was slightly higher in June, with prices rising 2.6% on-year compared with 2.5% in May, internal affairs ministry data showed Friday.
But the core Consumer Price Index reading, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, was still softer than market expectations of a 2.7% increase. "While the pace of increase in electricity and gasoline bills slowed, energy prices rose," boosting the overall figure, the ministry said.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.3%, the S&P 500 down 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.7%.
Equities across the pond were downbeat, amid calls for US President Joe Biden to withdraw from his re-election bid.
According to the Washington Post, former president Barack Obama - who once held top office to Biden's vice-president -has told allies that the current commander-in-chief needs to reconsider whether he stands for re-election in November.
Meanwhile, the New York Times cited several people close to Biden as saying they believe he has begun to accept that he may lose in November to Republican rival Donald Trump.
Trump, who is the Republican presidential candidate, promised on Thursday to bring an end to raging international crises and restore American prestige on the world stage, saying he could "stop wars with a telephone call".
He also suggested that Kim Jong Un – the reclusive North Korean dictator whom he met in person during his presidency, and whose country possesses a nuclear arsenal – longed to see him back in the White House.
"I get along with him, he'd like to see me back too. I think he misses me, if you want to know," Trump said.
Brent oil was quoted at USD84.49 a barrel early in London on Friday, lower than USD84.99 late Thursday.
Gold was quoted at USD2,418.00 an ounce, lower than USD2,465.41.
Still to come on Friday's economic calendar is a current account reading from the eurozone.
By Holly Beveridge, Alliance News reporter
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