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(Alliance News) - Equities in London on Friday were heading for a soft end to a largely downbeat week as investors await a raft of European and UK PMIs.
The FTSE 100 index was down 46.84 points, or 0.7%, at 6,668.58 early Friday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 112.52 points, or 0.5%, at 20,681.20. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.3%.
The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.8% at 663.26. The Cboe 250 was down 0.7% at 18,021.32, and the Cboe Small Companies down 0.5% at 12,320.01.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.4% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was 0.3% lower early Friday.
"Markets have stumbled at the end of a generally directionless week," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.
Hunter noted mixed data out the US and "anaemic" UK retail sales figures for December.
UK retail sales increased 0.3% month-on-month in December - rebounding from a 4.1% slide in November - which resulted in an increase of 2.7% when compared with February's pre-pandemic level.
Year-on-year, retail sales grew 2.9%, with non-store retailers - which includes online shops and market stalls - racked up 44% growth and food stores saw a 4.4% increase. This accelerated from growth of 2.1% in November.
In 2020 as a whole, UK retail sales fell an estimate 1.9% when compared with 2019, the largest year-on-year fall on record, the Office for National Statistics said.
Meanwhile, a separate release from the ONS showed UK public sector net debt at the end of December was equivalent to 99.4% of GDP, the highest debt to GDP ratio since the financial year ending 1962.
"This backdrop has taken some of the wind from the sails in what had been a strong start to the year for the FTSE 100," said Hunter.
The economic events calendar to come on Friday has PMI readings from Germany, eurozone and the UK at 0855 GMT, 0900 GMT and 0930 GMT respectively. US flash manufacturing and services PMIs are due at 1445 GMT.
Consensus, according to FXStreet, sees the UK manufacturing PMI falling to 54.0 points in January from 57.5 in December. The services PMI is expected to slide to 45.0 from 49.4 the month before.
The eurozone's manufacturing PMI is seen at 54.6 points for January, below December's 55.2, while the services sector is in for a sharper slump to 45.0 from 46.4.
The pound and euro were mixed against the dollar ahead of the data.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3657 early Friday, lower than USD1.3732 at the London equities close on Thursday. The euro traded at USD1.2152, firm on USD1.2151 late Thursday.
Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY103.65 early Friday in London from JPY103.53 at the London equities close on Thursday.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.4%. In China on Friday, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended down 1.6%.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.3%.
Gold was quoted at USD1,860.50 an ounce early Friday, lower than USD1,864.60 late Thursday in London. Brent oil was trading at USD55.27 a barrel, down from USD56.05 late Thursday.
The top of the FTSE 250 was dominated by IT firms Kainos Group, up 14%, and Computacenter, up 4.0%, after both companies raised their outlook.
Kainos said it expects results for its current financial year to be ahead of market expectations.
The information technology consulting and software provider noted that continued momentum has driven a strong trading performance thus far in its financial year ending March 31. Kainos added that it is well-positioned for further growth and remains confident in its strategy.
"Looking ahead, our robust pipeline, strong balance sheet and significant contracted backlog underpins our confidence in our outlook," the company said.
Computacenter said it now expects adjusted pretax profit for 2020 will be in excess of GBP195 million.
This follows continued positive trading for the computer services provider through to the end of the year. Back in December, Computacenter said profit was "unlikely to be less than" GBP190 million, already a jump from 2019's GBP146.3 million.
Computacenter on Thursday said revenue grew by 8% in 2020, seeing strong growth in Technology Sourcing product sales into the public sector and services-based customers.
"The positive momentum we have seen in trading since the start of the pandemic shows no sign of abating, and our pipelines for both Technology Sourcing and Services are as strong as at any time we have seen in the last year," said Computacenter.
Premier Foods fell 4.5% after HSBC started the Kipling cake owner with Reduce.
Cineworld shares were down 3.5%. The latest James Bond film instalment 'No Time To Die' will be delayed again, according to a statement on the film's website.
'No Time To Die' will be released in cinemas on October 8 this year.
The film was originally scheduled for release in April 2020, but was first pushed back to November as a result of the pandemic. In October, the movie's release was pushed out to April 2021, and has now been delayed for a third time.
The news will come as a further blow to cinema chain operators, such as Cineworld Group, as a string of big-budget Hollywood film releases have been pushed back due to the coronavirus.
Mediclinic fell 2.3% as it reported third-quarter revenue growth though remained cautious on outlook.
The private hospital operator said third-quarter revenue was up 2.5%, supported by "unseasonably high inpatient activity" in December at Mediclinic Southern Africa and Mediclinic Middle East. This was partially offset by the lower patient volumes at Hirslanden, Switzerland.
"The uncertainty caused by the pandemic has reduced visibility on activity levels and therefore the group remains cautious as to the full impact on near-term operating performance," Mediclinic said.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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