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* UK retail sales fall 1.4% in May as consumers dine out
* Tesco down as sale growth slowed in first quarter
* FTSE 100 down 1.9%, FTSE 250 off 1%
(Updates to close)
By Devik Jain and Amal S
June 18 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 index marked its worst
session in over a month on Friday, dragged by weakness in
financial and commodities-linked stocks, while data showed
retail sales fell in May as Britons dined out more following a
lifting of pandemic restrictions.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 ended 2.0% down and shed 1.7%
this week, snapping a win streak of three consecutive weeks in
gains. Banking and life insurance
stocks, down 2.7% and 2.5% respectively, were among the top
drags.
Base and precious metal miners,
slid 2.4% and 0.2% respectively, as commodity
prices fell, especially with copper on track for its biggest
weekly fall since March 2020.
Meanwhile, oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell
fell 2.7% and 3.1% respectively, tracking weaker crude.
British retail sales fell unexpectedly by 1.4% last month as
a lifting of lockdown restrictions encouraged spending in
restaurants rather than shops, with food stores suffering the
biggest hit.
Britain's biggest retailer Tesco also reported a
sharp slowdown in underlying UK sales growth in its first
quarter, sending its shares down 4.1%.
"When the UK government sort of became shifty on its tactics
on easing lockdowns, especially on the travel side, it made
people less sure of what's going on and they've just kept their
hands in their pockets and not been spending so much," said
Keith Temperton, equity sales trader at Forte Securities.
After the U.S. Federal Reserve's hawkish turn this week, all
eyes are now on the Bank of England's meeting next week where it
is expected to look through the temporary rise in inflation.
"Inflation is rising and unemployment is falling, but the
Bank of England isn't going to do anything about raising
interest rates until it's sure these aren't just transitory
factors emanating from an economy that's gone from red to
green," said Laith Khalaf, financial analyst at AJ Bell, in a
note.
The domestically focused mid-cap index fell 1%
dragged by retailers, industrials and financial stocks.
Among individual stocks, While Kin and Carta rose
6.6% after Dutch insurer Aegon NV disclosed a 5.24%
stake in the digital transformation services
company.
(Reporting by Devik Jain and Amal S in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu and Jonathan Oatis)
