FTSE 100 rises as heavyweight banks offset RELX drop

LONDON: London’s FTSE 100 ended higher on Friday after heavyweight lenders offset another slide in data analytics firm RELX, giving the index a positive finish to a week that had been marred by a tech selloff.

The blue-chip index closed up 0.6 percent, securing a second straight weekly gain, helped also by the Bank of England signalling on Thursday that interest rates could fall if the drop in inflation is sustained.

The domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 rose 0.5 percent but still logged a second straight week of losses.

Business information group RELX slid 3.9 percent, falling for a fourth straight week, while London Stock Exchange Group also fell 0.7 percent, marking its third consecutive weekly decline.

But financial stocks, heavily weighted in the index, were up; banks Lloyds, NatWest Group and Barclays rose between 0.9 percent and 2.8 percent.

Across the Atlantic, investors assessed earnings from megacap Amazon that projected a more than 50 percent boost in capital spending this year, sending its shares down 8 percent.

Domestic political uncertainty lingered, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer facing the most serious threat yet to his position after emails revealed the depth of ties between the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the United States.

Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, put the probability of Starmer’s removal this year at 80 percent, up from 65 percent, saying the controversy over Mandelson’s appointment had dealt “irreparable damage”.

London-listed miners rose; Fresnillo was up 3.1 percent, among the top gainers of the benchmark index..

Separately, British house prices rose in January by the most in more than a year, mortgage lender Halifax said, adding to signs of a recovery in the housing market.

Among other stocks, Metlen fell 20.2 percent after the Greek energy and metals group said it expects 2025 EBITDA to be 25 percent lower.

Next added 0.7 percent after the fashion retailer said it has purchased British footwear brand Russell & Bromley through an insolvency process, paying 2.5 million pounds (USD3.4 million).