LONDON: British equities slipped on Friday with homebuilders leading declines, rounding off a week filled with losses after the Bank of England’s bumper rate hike, while drugmaker GSK jumped after reaching a settlement in its heartburn drug litigation.
The benchmark FTSE 100 fell 0.5%, while the FTSE 250 mid-cap index lost 1.5% for the day.
Both indexes logged steep weekly declines, with the FTSE 100 posting its worst weekly performance since the US banking turmoil in March, while the FTSE 250 recorded its worst weekly showing in over a year.
Rate-sensitive homebuilders were the top losers this week after the BoE raised its bank rate by an unexpected 50-basis points on Thursday in its bid to curtail runaway inflation.
Persimmon, which is part of the blue-chip FTSE 100, dropped 4% after HSBC downgraded the homebuilder’s rating to “hold” from “buy”, while the broader index was down 2.9%.
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