British growth update awaits London investors

London investors will next week switch their attention to British economic growth data and annual earnings from clothing-to-food retailer Marks and Spencer. London's FTSE 100 index added just 0.38 percent over the past week to finish at 5,948.49 points on Friday. Wednesday sees the publication of the second official estimate of British gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2011.
The initial estimate last month showed that the British economy had returned to growth in the first three months of the year. GDP increased by 0.5 percent in the first quarter, the Office for National Statistics had said, after a sharp and unexpected slump of 0.5 percent in the final three months of last year. "GDP growth in the first quarter of 2011 is likely to be confirmed at a disappointing 0.5 percent, thereby indicating that the economy flatlined over the previous two quarters," said economist Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight.
Before next week's GDP data, the ONS publishes an update on the state of Britain's public finances next Tuesday, when the key scheduled corporate news will be full-year results from Marks and Spencer.