LONDON: London’s FTSE 100 closed lower on Friday as miners retreated alongside a dip in copper prices, though software and data companies rebounded after the report of a large deal in the sector.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 dipped 0.2 percent to 10,750.11 points to register its first weekly decline since early July. The midcap FTSE 250 edged up 0.1 percent to 24,867.42 points, ending the week largely flat.
Shares of miner Antofagasta dropped almost 4.6 percent, down sharply for the second consecutive day after its production outlook disappointed on Thursday and copper prices fell after a recent rally.
The FTSE 350 industrial metal and mining index registered a 4.1 percent drop this week, marking its weakest weekly performance since late June.
Among gainers, shares of Sage Group, Experian and RELX climbed 1.4 percent to 4.4 percent, respectively, after Reuters reported private equity firm Silver Lake was in talks to acquire US software firm Workday, lifting the sector.
Global stocks traded just below record highs as benign US inflation data this week tempered expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes this year.
Still, a lack of progress towards a lasting peace deal between the United States and Iran has weighed on sentiment and kept crude prices on track for weekly gains.
Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to grind to a near standstill after two more ships were attacked there and the United States said it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely.
Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill told the Wall Street Journal that stronger-than-expected British economic growth figures reinforced the case for higher borrowing costs to bring inflation back to target, after data showed a surprise 0.3 percent rise in the UK’s gross domestic product in June.
Traders expect at least one 25-basis-point rate hike from the BoE by the end of this year, according to LSEG-compiled data.
Ladbrokes owner Entain rose 2.1 percent as it beat first-half profit expectations, while identity technology company GB Group sank nearly 31 percent, its steepest one-day fall ever,after cutting its annual revenue growth forecast.
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