LONDON: British equities rose in broad-based gains on Friday after a US jobs report allayed concerns of an economic slowdown in the world’s biggest economy, with both UK blue-chips and midcaps clocking weekly advances.
Global risk assets ticked higher after data showed US job growth slowed in May amid uncertainty around US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but solid wage growth should keep the economic expansion on track.
“The US jobs report data for May suggests the economy is holding up and far from recessionary,” said Janet Mui, head of market analysis at wealth manager RBC Brewin Dolphin.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.3%, while the more domestically-oriented FTSE 250 ended 0.4% higher. Both indexes clocked firm weekly gains.
On the day, heavyweight banks were among the top gainers, with Standard Chartered up 2.9%, HSBC up 1% and Barclays climbing 1.9%.
Precious metal miners, the best performing FTSE 350 sector this week, lagged on Friday, clocking a 1.8% decline.
Aerospace and defence shares - which jumped earlier this week after Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged the largest sustained increase in British defence spending since the end of the Cold War - gave some of those gains back, to fall 0.8%.
The week has been a volatile one for global markets as investors grappled with ever-changing global trade dynamics. Trump doubled tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, though the UK received an exemption.
Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping also confronted weeks of brewing trade tensions in a rare leader-to-leader call on Thursday that left key issues to further talks.
Back in the UK, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is scheduled to hold her first multi-year spending review on June 11 and is expected to divvy up more than 2 trillion pounds ($2.7 trillion) of public money between her ministerial colleagues.
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