LONDON (Alliance News) - London's major stock indices closed mixed Friday, but are down over a week dominated by the US government shutdown - now in its fourth day without any sign of a near-term resolution.
The markets had little economic data to drive them Friday thanks to the shutdown, and investors remain cautious as US lawmakers also have a looming deadline to raise the country's debt ceiling before the country hits the current level, potentially defaulting on debts as a result.
Congress remains deadlocked on the budget and about 800,000 "non-essential" federal workers, including nearly the entire Bureau of Labour Statistics staff, remain idled. As a result, the most eagerly anticipated economic data of the month, the non-farm payrolls, were not released as scheduled Friday.
"The Government shut-down is bad enough, but failure to raise the debt ceiling would be far worse. It is mission critical that this be resolved as soon as possible," Christine Lagarde, International Monetary Fund director, said.
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.1% at 6,453.88 Friday, with the AIM All-Share up 0.2% at 782.75 and the FTSE 250 down 0.1% at 14,839.22. For the week, the indices were all down. The FTSE 100 closed 0.9% lower than its close last Friday, while the FTSE 250 is down 0.6% and the AIM All-Share down 1.8%.
Automobile and parts stocks traded positively throughout the day, with the FTSE 350 sector index closing the day as the biggest gaining sector, up 2.4%. The rise came on the back of strong UK new car sales data showing that sales in September hit the highest monthly total since March 2008 and rose for the 19th successive month.
Automotive components company GKN closed up 1.5% at 349.703 pence, finishing as one of the biggest blue-chip risers.
Carpetright was the biggest faller on the FTSE 250, closing down 8.5% at 616.5p, after the company said it expects its full-year results to be significantly below expectations due to a softer UK market and losses at its Dutch business. The floor-covering retailer said that for the 10 weeks to September 29, group sales fell 3.7%, UK like-for-like sales were down 2.5%, with total UK sales down 4.1%. Carpetright said that in local currency terms, like-for-like sales in the rest of Europe, which comprises the Netherlands, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland, declined 7.6%. It said that total sales dropped 7.8% in the 10-week period. Alongside its weak trading update, the firm announced that Chief Executive Officer Darren Shapland would step down. Chairman Philip Harris will become a full-time executive chairman.
Conversely, Premier Gold Resources, down 24% at 0.17p was a big faller. The AIM-listed company fell after it announced that it had encountered resistance from factions of local gangs seeking to hold up the work programme at its Cholokkaindy mine in the Kyrgyz Republic. As a result, it will not be able to commence operations as originally intended. Premier Gold said it will focus on resolving the situation to create a safe working environment so that work can resume. It said that it may still be able to undertake a limited work programme before winter sets in, but it cannot be certain it achieve the operational objectives it had set for 2013.
Having closed lower Thursday, US markets are all up at the close of the UK equities markets. The DJIA is up 0.3% at 15,038.87, the S&P is up 0.4% at 1,684.56, and the Nasdaq is up 0.6% at 3,797.22.
Monday's data calendar is light. German import price figures are expected at 0800 BST, with EU investor confidence data at 0930 BST. US consumer credit change is scheduled for 2000 BST.
By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp
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