Investors on the London stock market will pore over a series of economic data releases next week for clues on how the British economy has fared during the second half of a turbulent year. The FTSE 100 index of leading shares rallied 3.4 percent over the week to finish at 5,303.40 points on Friday.
The market got a boost on Thursday after the Bank of England announced that it will inject £75 billion (86 billion euros, $115 billion) of new money into Britain's stalled economy.
A day earlier, data showed the economy had slowed to virtual halt in the second quarter and that the country's last recession was much deeper than thought, piling pressure on the coalition government to get growth going again.
Sentiment improved towards the end of the week on news of better-than-expected US jobs growth and hopes of swift recapitalisation of European banks to avert the eurozone debt crisis spreading.
However bank shares took a knock Friday as Moody's downgraded its credit ratings for a dozen British lenders, including state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB, due to the removal and curtailment of government aid.
Next week, markets will digest manufacturing data for August on Tuesday, September unemployment figures on Wednesday and August trade data on Thursday.
British high fashion label Burberry publishes a second-quarter trading update on Wednesday. The London stock market has just suffered its worst quarter for nine years amid heightened fears over the eurozone debt crisis and the global economic slowdown.
The FTSE 100 tumbled 13.7 percent in the three months to September, wiping an estimated £212 billion from the value of the country's top blue chip companies.
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