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(Reuters) – UK’s FTSE 100 slipped on Friday, after a five-day rise that paved the way for a strong weekly gain for the benchmark stock index, as abating fears of a likely recession in the United States bolstered investor sentiment.
The globally-focussed FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 0716 GMT. However, it was on track for its biggest weekly gain since early May, owing to a strong recovery in global risk appetite after an early August stocks rout sparked by growing U.S. slowdown fears.
Thursday’s U.S. retail sales data helped allay some of the recent recession fears in the world’s largest economy, helping the UK’s benchmark index to reclaim levels seen before Aug. 2, when a U.S. payrolls data deepened a heavy selloff in risk assets globally.
The domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 also slipped 0.2%.
Most of the sub-indexes were trading in the negative territory, led by homebuilders such as Persimmon, while travel and leisure stocks were among the rare bright spots.
Data showed British retail sales rose 0.5% in July, in line with expectations, after a weak performance in June weighed on economic growth.
The squeeze on British consumers from high inflation in 2022 and 2023 is beginning to ease, in light of the Bank of England this month cutting interest rates for the first time from their 16-year high.
“While it’s good news that the retail sector has returned to growth at the start of Q3, it is perhaps not as good as the 0.5% month-on-month rise suggests,” wrote Alex Kerr, UK economist at Capital Economics.
“Rising real incomes, as inflation falls, should mean consumer spending growth accelerates over the rest of this year.”
Among other single movers, Entain shares rose 1% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the gambling group’s stock to “neutral” from “sell”.
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)