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(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 ended a torrid week on a downbeat note, with share price gains from blue-chip Natwest Group and International Consolidated Airlines unable to shunt the index into the green.
Virus second wave worries continue to swirl, and markets are eyeing next week's US presidential election with trepidation.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 4.48 points, or 0.1%, at 5,577.27 - ending down 4.8% for the week.
The FTSE 250 ended up 36.70 points, or 0.2%, at 17,214.38, closing 4.9% lower since the start of the week. The AIM All-Share closed down 0.70 of a point, or 0.1%, at 948.60, finishing the week 3.2% lower.
The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.3% at 555.50, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.6% at 14,518.02, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.4% at 9,465.83.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.5%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended down 0.4%.
It has been a "brutal" week for stocks, said David Madden at CMC Markets.
"A mixture of rising Covid-19 cases and the announcement of tougher restrictions clobbered stocks," he said.
"Last month, the DAX 30 and the CAC 40 hit multi month highs, while the FTSE 100 reached multi-week highs. Back then, optimism was doing the rounds as economies reopened and there were hopes that US politicians would agree a coronavirus relief package," Madden commented. "Now, dealers are bracing themselves for stricter lockdowns, and lawmakers in the US haven't reached a compromise with respect to the stimulus package."
France was under a new virus lockdown on Friday and the resurgent pandemic hit new heights in the US with a daily record of more than 90,000 cases, just days before the presidential election.
From midnight, France's 65 million people were largely confined to their homes, needing written statements to leave, in the latest drastic measure to curb a disease that has infected more than 44.5 million people worldwide and killed nearly 1.2 million.
The US, where the coronavirus has overshadowed President Donald Trump's November 3 re-election bid, announced 91,295 new cases in 24 hours, surging past the 90,000-mark for the first time to a total of almost nine million.
In the UK, government ministers have continued to defend the use of regional measures to tackle rising coronavirus cases in England despite mounting pressure to call a national lockdown.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the government is "striving" to avoid issuing blanket restrictions nationwide as he insisted targeted measures could slow the growth in cases.
One in five people in England will be living under the toughest coronavirus restrictions from Monday when West Yorkshire moves into Tier 3, while 58% of the population will be living under either Tier 2 or 3 measures.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2952 at the London equities close Friday, higher compared to USD1.2902 at the close on Thursday.
Despite some better-than-expected gross domestic product data, the euro remained subdued after a dovish European Central Bank on Thursday. The single currency stood at USD1.1649 at the European equities close Friday, against USD1.1661 at the same time on Thursday.
On a quarterly basis, the eurozone economy grew by 12.7% in the three months to September, recovering from a record slump of 11.8% in the second quarter. The reading beat market forecasts, cited by FXStreet, for growth of 9.4%.
Annually, eurozone gross domestic product shrank by 4.3% in the third quarter, easing from a record decline of 14.8% in the second quarter. However, the figure beat expectations for a 7.0% drop in activity.
Data from Eurostat also showed consumer prices in the euro area are expected to drop 0.3% on an annual basis in October, an unchanged pace of deflation from September. However, the annual core consumer price measure, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, increased 0.2% in October, the same as in September.
Against the yen, the dollar fell to JPY104.56 compared to JPY104.64 late Thursday.
Stocks in New York were in the red at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones down 0.8%, the S&P 500 index down 1.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 2.1%.
Dragging down the Dow was Apple, shares falling 5.1% after reporting a dip in fourth quarter earnings and iPhone sales.
Revenue for the three months to September 26, Apple's fourth quarter, came in at USD64.70 billion, up 1.0% from USD64.04 billion a year ago. Though revenue rose, net income slid 7.5% to USD12.67 billion from USD13.69 billion as operating expenses ticked up 14% to USD9.91 billion from USD8.69 billion.
Diluted earnings per share edged down 3.9% to USD0.73 from USD0.76 a year ago.
iPhone sales made up the bulk of the fourth quarter revenue outturn, at USD26.44 billion, though this was down 21% from USD33.36 billion a year ago. Mac sales rose 29% to USD9.03 billion from USD7.00 billion, and iPad sales increased 46% to USD6.80 billion from USD4.67 billion.
In London, Natwest Group rose to the top of the FTSE 100, gaining 6.0% on a swing to profit in the third quarter.
For the quarter ended September 30, net interest income was down to GBP1.93 billion from GBP2.01 billion last year, and total income fell to GBP2.42 billion from GBP2.90 billion.
The lender, formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland Group, swung to an operating profit of GBP355 million in the third quarter following a loss of GBP8 million in the same period last year. Attributable profit was GBP61 million, improved from a GBP315 million loss last year.
The bank noted it put aside GBP900 million in the third quarter last year to cover a sharp rise in payment protection insurance claims - which was not repeated in the third quarter of 2020 as the deadline for claims has passed.
British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines advanced 5.9% despite revealing earnings for the nine months of 2020 were severely hurt by the outbreak of Covid-19 and warning demand for air travel is unlikely to fully recover before 2023.
For the nine months to September 30, revenue fell 66% to EUR6.57 billion from EUR19.29 billion last year. IAG, which also owns Vueling, swung to an adjusted pretax loss of EUR3.18 billion in the nine-month period from a EUR1.81 billion profit in the same period last year.
The company swung to an operating loss of EUR1.30 billion from an operating profit of EUR1.42 billion.
"These results demonstrate the negative impact of Covid-19 on our business but they're exacerbated by constantly changing government restrictions. This creates uncertainty for customers and makes it harder to plan our business effectively," said Chief Executive Officer Luis Gallego.
Gallego added that IAG expects it will take "until at least 2023" for passenger demand to recover to 2019 levels.
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares rose 3.5% and 'B' shares gained 3.4% after Barclays raised the oil major to Equal Weight from Underweight.
Brent oil was quoted at USD37.68 a barrel at the London equities close Friday, firming from USD37.56 late Thursday.
Gold was quoted at USD1,879.42 an ounce at the London equities close Friday, up against USD1,869.88 at the close on Thursday.
In the UK corporate calendar on Monday is a trading statement from insurer Hiscox and half-year results from budget airline Ryanair.
In the economic calendar for Monday, there are manufacturing PMIs from Japan, Ireland, Germany, the eurozone, the UK and the US at 0030 GMT, 0101 GMT, 0855 GMT, 0900 GMT, 0930 GMT and 1445 GMT respectively. Over the weekend are manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIS from China.
Chris Beauchamp at IG commented: "Investors might want to savour this week before it goes entirely, since next week's presidential election could spark a long and drawn out battle for the presidency."
The election is on November 3, though 81 million Americans have already cast their ballots early.
"Of course, if the election isn't enough, we get the Bank of England and the Fed next week, along with monthly jobs numbers. October is going out with a bang, and there seems every chance November will come in with one too," Beauchamp added.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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