LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Loses Ground As Retailers Pull Back, But Weekly Gain On Tap

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

U.K. stocks were losing ground for a second straight session, with retail stocks in the red, but London's blue-chip benchmark was on track for a win on a weekly basis.

How markets are faring: The FTSE 100 index shed 0.1% to 7,408.25, with health care, consumer services and oil and gas shares among the decliners. Tech, basic materials and consumer goods shares were modestly higher. On Thursday, the index ended down less than 2 points. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uks-ftse-100-stumbles-after-three-day-advance-2017-11-23)

For the week, the benchmark was looking at a rise of 0.4%. That would snap a two-week run of losses.

The pound changed hands at $1.3323, up from $1.3307 late Thursday in New York. Sterling has risen about 0.8% against the dollar this week.

What's moving markets: Retailers of all stripes will be in battle-mode over the next few weeks as the holiday shopping season ramps up. Black Friday sales are running across the U.K. as well as the U.S. Retail shares on the FTSE 100 were lower as trading got underway Friday.

On the political front, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May was set to travel to Brussels on Friday to discuss Brexit matters with the European Council's president, Donald Tusk. May is reportedly aiming to extend an offer of GBP40 billion for a so-called divorce bill as Britain prepares to leave the European Union. EU officials have said that issue needs to be settled before they can start discussions on trade of goods and services.

How the U.K. economy fares with the Brexit will be the key in the direction of future interest rates, Bank of England member Silvana Tenreyro told Bloomberg in an interview published Friday (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-24/boe-s-tenreyro-rules-nothing-out-on-interest-rates-in-brexit-era). Two more rate hikes may be needed to get inflation to the central bank's 2% target, she said. Inflation is currently running at 3%.

Stock movers: In the retail group, Next (NXT.LN) was off 1.1%, Marks & Spencer Group PLC (MKS.LN) was down 0.4%, and DIY chain store operator Kingfisher PLC (KGF.LN) was lower by 1.4%.

Shares of grocery chain J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) , which also runs retailer Argos, were fractionally higher.

Provident Financial PLC (PFG.LN) shares were down 0.6%, after opening 3.1% lower, after the lender said Executive Chairman Manjit Wolstenholme died suddenly (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/provident-exec-chairman-manjit-wolstenholme-dies-2017-11-24) on Thursday.

On the FTSE 250 index, William Hill (WMH.LN) shares were down 0.6%. The bookmaker said it's in preliminary talks about a possible merger between its William Hill Australia (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/william-hill-in-talks-with-crownbet-over-tie-up-2017-11-24) subsidiary and Australia's CrownBet.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 24, 2017 04:46 ET (09:46 GMT)

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