FTSE inches higher after ‘lacklustre’ session as pound bounces

The FTSE 100 spent most of Friday in the red but finished marginally higher after positivity in the US offset a largely “lacklustre” day of trading, while the pound hit a 12-week high.

Flash PMI economic figures in the US showed a 50.7 reading for November, highlighting improved business activity, which boosted the key stateside indices.

It helped traders desperate for direction following a largely flat session with a dearth of major equity updates in London.

London’s top index moved 0.06%, or 4.62 points, higher to finish at 7,488.2.

Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at IG, said: “With US markets only open for half a day, global markets saw a lacklustre, low volume session.

“Stocks lacked direction in low volume, low volatility trading as US private sector activity expanded marginally and German business morale improved less-than-expected.

“Indices, except the FTSE 100, rose for a fourth consecutive week despite Europe’s economic engine heading towards a double-dip recession as Germany’s final Q3 quarter-on-quarter GDP dropped to -0.1% as forecast.”

Elsewhere in Europe, the dip in GDP in Germany failed to shock investors who in fact drew positive signs from the largely steady economic update.

The Dax index was 0.22% higher for the day at the close and the Cac 40 closed up 0.2%

Meanwhile, sterling was strong as the GfK consumer confidence survey outperformed expectations, pointing towards resilient spending from consumers and firms.

As a result, expectations that interest rates might need to be cut to encourage spending were dampened.

The pound was up O.55% at 1.259 US dollars and was 0.36% lower at 1.152 euros at market close in London.

Coral and Ladbrokes owner Entain saw shares dip on Friday (Matt Alexander/PA)

In company news, shares in Ladbrokes owner Entain were a touch lower but relatively robust given the firm said it would pay £585 million in penalties and disgorgement of profits after an investigation into alleged bribery.

Entain, which also owns the Coral brand, told shareholders it had reached an agreement with HM Revenue & Customs following the probe into alleged bribery at a former Turkish subsidiary.

Shares finished down 13.6p to 850.8p, as it was sheltered by previously informing markets it had set aside a similar cash figure to deal with the fallout of the probe.

Team17 plunged in value on Friday after the computer games business said profit will be considerably lower than many experts had forecast.

The company, perhaps best known for the Worms series, said although revenue is likely to be “modestly ahead” of what the market is currently expecting, its earnings will not be.

As a result, it saw shares drop by 134p to 180p at the close of play.

Mothercare shares made gains however, as the baby product business posted stronger profits despite a slump in revenues. Shares were 0.42p higher at 5.12p.

Elsewhere, the price of a barrel of Brent crude fell by 0.2% to 81.94 US dollars (£65) as markets were closing in London.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Kingfisher, up 4.4p at 219p, Ocado, up 11.2p at 571p, B&M European Value, up 9p at 545.2p, Tesco, up 3.8p at 283.8p, and Hargreaves Lansdown, up 9.2p at 709.2p.

The biggest fallers of the day were Sage Group, down 26.5p at 1,104p, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, down 10.6p at 713p, Flutter, down 180p at 12,620p, Admiral, down 32p at 2,664p, and Compass, down 21p at 2,070p.