FTSE ends week in the red after bruising week wipes value off top stocks
The world’s biggest economy was in the spotlight again on Friday after official data showed the American jobs market slowed in June.
A cooling labour market could mean that policymakers’ efforts to slow inflation through interest rate rises have begun to take hold on employers.
However, wages still rose by 4.4% year-on-year, which could put more pressure on the Federal Reserve to control spending.
The downbeat investor sentiment lingered for the FTSE 100, which dipped on Friday after closing at its lowest level since early November on Thursday.
It closed the week 23.56 points lower, or 0.32%, to 7,256.94.
European markets have managed to stabilise a touch after the volatility of recent days, after US non-farm payrolls came in slightly below expectations on the headline number
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK
Elsewhere, Germany’s Dax grew by 0.48% and France’s Cac 40 closed 0.42% higher after partially recovering Thursday’s losses.
It was a mixed start to trading over in the US, where the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Dow Jones down 0.1% by the time European markets closed.
The pound was rallying against the US dollar, and was up 0.8% to 1.2835.
Sterling was also up by 0.2% against the euro to 1.1712.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst for CMC Markets UK, said: “European markets have managed to stabilise a touch after the volatility of recent days, after US non-farm payrolls came in slightly below expectations on the headline number.
“The average nature of today’s jobs report has helped take some of the heat out of the rise in bond yields, pulling them off their peaks, and focused attention on next week’s US CPI (Consumer Prices Index) report which is expected to show that inflation has slowed further.”
In company news, shares in Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company jumped after the FTSE 100-listed company upgraded its annual profit guidance.
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The company, which sells a range of drinks brands around the world, said it saw a strong performance in June and now expects full-year earnings growth of between 9% and 11%, significantly higher than its previous guidance of up to 3%. Shares in the business closed 5.1% higher.
Shares in MJ Gleeson inched lower after the housebuilder said it made fewer sales in the latest financial year, as buyers feel the impact of higher borrowing costs.
But the firm insisted it was likely to benefit from hopeful buyers turning to lower-cost properties as budgets are squeezed. Its shares closed 0.5% lower.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Ocado Group, up 38.8p to 592p, Coca-Cola HBC, up 115p to 2,372p, Johnson Matthey, up 46.5p to 1,707p, Kingfisher, up 6p to 224.1p, and Rolls-Royce Holdings, up 3.3p to 148.5p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Relx, down 74p to 2,463p, Intertek Group, down 102p to 3,998p, Severn Trent, down 57p to 2,394p, AstraZeneca, down 218p to 10,110p, and National Grid, down 20.8p to 99.2p.
