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* Record rise in COVID-19 cases in U.S. hits sentiment
* Land Securities rises on uptick in demand at shopping
centres
* BP, Shell track slide in oil prices
* FTSE 100 down 1.3%, FTSE 250 down 0.4%
(Adds comments, updates prices to close)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
July 3 (Reuters) - UK stocks ended lower on Friday, with the
FTSE 100 index wiping out gains for the week as a record surge
in U.S. COVID-19 cases made investors question the chance of a
swift global economic recovery.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 slid 1.3%, with BP Plc
and Royal Dutch Shell Plc among the biggest drags, as
the new infections raised the spectre of further lockdowns and
hit oil prices.
The domestically-focussed FTSE 250 fell 0.4% on the
day, but still held onto a weekly gain.
"Stocks enjoyed a big rally yesterday on the back of the
optimism about a possible COVID-19 vaccine but all of the gains
the FTSE 100 made yesterday have been lost today on renewed
health fears," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets
UK.
British stocks had opened higher on Friday as data showed
China's services sector expanded at its fastest pace in over a
decade last month.
At home, data showed a historic slump across British
businesses levelled off last month as some of the economy
reopened from the coronavirus lockdown.
UK stock markets have rebounded sharply from a virus-driven
crash in March, helped by historic stimulus and, more recently,
data that had raised hopes that the worst of the pandemic's
economic damage might be over.
But analysts have warned of another sell-off in financial
markets as business sentiment remains fragile. Data on Friday
showed about 46% of UK manufacturers are expecting to lay off
workers over the next six months.
Retailer Next fell 4.6% after Goldman Sachs
downgraded the stock to "sell", while AB Foods slipped
1.8% after the U.S. bank cut its rating on the stock to
"neutral".
Land Securities rose 0.5% after it said
like-for-like sales at its shopping centres was at 80% of the
level achieved last year in the two weeks since non-essential
retail reopened in England.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Sagarika Jaisinghani in
Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Andrew Heavens)
