British equities slid 1% on Friday amid heightened Middle East tensions, while investors braced for the release of key US and UK economic data.
By 0707 GMT, the globally-focussed FTSE 100 had fallen by 1.0%, while the domestic-oriented FTSE 250 was down 0.7%. Both indexes were set to post weekly declines.
Oil and gas stocks were the only outliers across the board, rising by 0.3% as crude prices extended gains over escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and tightening supply concerns.
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Later in the day, investors will parse UK business activity data for March and the US non-farm payrolls report for fresh insights into the trajectory of interest rates.
Among individual stocks, Experian lost 1.6% after the credit data group agreed to acquire peer illion for up to A$820 million ($542.10 million).
Rio Tinto lost 1.3% after shareholders demanded the company come clean on environmental issues.
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