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(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 clung onto modest gains on Friday, extending its winning run to 10, consolidating the recent rally.
The FTSE 100 index rose 7.81 points, 0.1%, to 8,415.25. The FTSE 250 advanced 105.32 points, 0.5%, at 19,609.69, and the AIM All-Share gained 3.07 points, 0.5%, at 672.85.
For the week, the FTSE 100 rose 1.7%, the FTSE 250 firmed 1.8% and the AIM All-Share climbed 0.5%.
The Cboe UK 100 edged up to 837.77, the Cboe UK 250 gained 0.4% at 17,119.57, while the Cboe Small Companies eased 0.3% at 15,243.73.
In Paris, the CAC 40 ended up 0.5%, while Frankfurt's DAX 40 climbed 0.8%.
At the time of the London close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.7% lower, the S&P 500 fell 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2%.
It was a generally calmer day on markets as investors await the latest developments on tariffs and trade talks.
"We are currently in tariff purgatory," said Joachim Klement, strategist at Panmure Liberum. "There is no fundamental change to the outlook, so markets latch on to noise and get constantly whipsawed by the ever-changing utterances of Donald Trump and his cabinet."
JPMorgan agreed, noting while reported progress on deals with Japan, Korea, and India is encouraging, "clarity and closure are still needed to solidify a more positive outlook and avoid further damage to the business cycle."
Bloomberg reported China is considering suspending its 125% tariff on some US imports, adding to the generally softer language between the world's two largest economies this week.
Elsewhere, the Financial Times reported Apple intends to move the assembly of all its iPhones sold in the US to India from China "as soon as next year", in response to the tariffs imposed on China.
Citing "people familiar with the matter", the FT said: "The push builds on Apple's strategy to diversify its supply chain but goes further and faster than investors appreciate, with a goal to source from India the entirety of the more than 60 [million] iPhones sold annually in the US by the end of 2026."
This will mean doubling Apple's iPhone output from India and follows "almost two decades" of investing "heavily" in its production line in China, the newspaper said.
On Wall Street, Apple traded 0.4% lower.
The impact of tariffs was reflected in waning US consumer sentiment which plunged in April, although by not as much as feared.
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell for the fourth straight month to 52.2 in April from 57.0 in March. A drop to 50.8 had been forecast by FXStreet consensus.
In addition, year-ahead inflation expectations surged from 5.0% last month to 6.5% this month, the highest reading since 1981 and marking four consecutive months of unusually large increases of 0.5 percentage points or more, the report showed.
Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JPY143.88 on Friday at the London equities close compared to JPY142.42 on Thursday. The pound also traded higher at USD1.3313 compared to USD1.3274 on Thursday.
The euro stood higher at USD1.1372 on Friday against USD1.1351 on Thursday.
Back in the UK, there was mixed economic news.
Positively, UK retail sales rose for the third month in a row, comfortably outstripping expectations.
According to the Office for National Statistics, UK retail sales volumes rose by 0.4% in March, against a 0.7% growth in February. This outperformed an FXStreet-cited consensus for a 0.4% decline in sales.
Sales by clothing and outdoor retailers were boosted by good weather, said the ONS, though gains were partly offset by falls in supermarket sales.
Sales volumes rose by 2.6% over the year to March, far exceeding a 1.8% FXStreet-cited consensus and accelerated from a 2.2% rise in the year to February.
But separate figures published by research company GfK showed that consumer confidence fell four points to minus 23 this month, the lowest level for well over a year.
"A strong retail sales prints should assuage concerns over an immediate economic collapse. At the same time, further disappointments in survey data continue to point to deterioration over the medium-term," commented Citi's Callum McLaren-Stewart.
He said while the data should keep a check on some of the more "dovish impulses" from the Bank of England, over the medium-term the UK remains on a weak trajectory.
The Citi analyst expects the BoE to cut interest rates in May and August before the shifting to consecutive cuts in September.
On the FTSE 100, Marks & Spencer fell 2.3% after it paused UK & Ireland online orders via its websites, apps and some Marks & Spencer operated websites.
This is amid the cyber incident the firm has been experiencing which it reported on Tuesday.
"We continue to manage the incident proactively and the M&S team - supported by leading experts - is working extremely hard to restore online operations and continue to serve customers well," the retailer said.
On the FTSE 250, Mobico plunged, shocking investors, as it said it expects to suffer a "significant" annual loss due to write-offs of goodwill, as it also announced the long-awaited sale of its North America School Bus business.
Shares in the Birmingham, England-based public transport operator plunged 41%.
Panmure Liberum said the sale price of the US bus division of around GBP457 million was "light" of its assumption of GBP615 million, and includes a USD70 million earn out - "which is clearly not guaranteed to be paid in full."
Looking ahead, Mobico expects to report 2024 adjusted operating profit at the lower end of guidance, with School Bus expected to contribute around GBP9 million to profit.
Bookmaker Evoke rose 0.3% after reporting revenue of GBP437.2 million in the first three months ended March 31, up 1.4% from GBP431.2 million in the prior year, in line with the company's guidance.
However, Evoke's UK revenue fell 1%, with lower sports revenue offsetting a 3% increase in gaming. The company added that both were impacted by the introduction of additional safer gambling measures.
Full-year revenue growth of Evoke is expected to be consistent with the company's mid-term target of 5% to 9% annual growth.
Brent oil was quoted higher late on Friday in London at USD66.68 a barrel, against USD66.10 late on Thursday.
Gold continued its volatile run, trading at USD3,279.17 an ounce on Friday against USD3,324.20 on Thursday.
The global economic diary on Monday is fairly quiet with US nonfarm payrolls, US GDP data and the Bank of Japan's interest rate call the main points of interest next week.
The domestic corporate calendar next week sees first quarter updates from several FTSE 100 heavyweights.
Lenders Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC and Standard Chartered, oil majors BP and Shell and drugs giant AstraZeneca are among those set to update investors.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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