UK’s FTSE 100 climbed on Friday, with defensive stocks such as utilities and healthcare leading the charge, while top building materials supplier Travis Perkins slumped after a profit warning.
The internationally-focused FTSE 100 gained 0.2%, posting a weekly gain of 1%, snapping a three-week losing streak underpinned by strength in mining stocks.
Industrial metal miners, however, were down 1.3% for the day.
Defensive sectors such as utilities, healthcare and consumer staples were amongst top gainers on the last day of a week where the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank maintained a hawkish stance on interest rates.
Investors now look ahead to domestic inflation data and a probable 25-basis-point rate hike from the Bank of England next week.
“If you compare the recent updates that we got from the Fed and from the ECB, the BoE appears to be in a trickier situation simply because inflation is too high for comfort,” said Julien Lafargue, chief market strategist at Barclays Private Bank.
“It looks like, at least at this point, that this is the central bank that’s going to remain the most restrictive for the longest period of time.”
A BoE survey showed the British public’s expectations for inflation in the coming 12 months cooled in May.
Meanwhile, investors also drew comfort from the Bank of Japan’s decision to maintain ultra-easy monetary policy and remain a dovish outlier among global central banks.
The FTSE 250 mid-cap index ended the day unchanged, though Travis Perkins dropped 6.7%, posting its worst single-day performance in over 10 months after Britain’s biggest supplier of building materials said its profit would be hit by challenges in the country’s housing market.
UK’s construction and materials sector led sector-wise gains for the week. On the day, it was up 1.8%.
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