Stock prices in London closed higher on Friday, with markets maintaining the optimism that prevailed after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that it was “highly unlikely” that he would fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
Meanwhile, also in the US, preliminary data from the University of Michigan showed that consumer sentiment improved marginally in July. However, overall confidence remains well below recent highs and historical norms.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 19.48 points, 0.2%, at 8,992.12. The FTSE 250 ended up 131.83 points, 0.6%, at 21,898.26, and the AIM All-Share closed up 3.85 points, 0.5%, at 772.78.
On AIM, Metals One closed up 3.3%.
The mineral developer with projects in Norway and Finland has completed the acquisition of a 10% interest in NovaCore Exploration Inc, which is advancing the Red Basin uranium project in New Mexico.
Metals One has acquired the stake with a share subscription worth 300,000 US dollars (£223,000), and said it has also been granted warrants to increase its ownership to 30%.
PHSC fell 9.3%.
The provider of health, safety, hygiene and environmental consultancy and security solutions reported a pretax loss of £127,419 for the year to the end of March, swinging from a profit of £332,317 in the prior year. Sales revenue fell 15% to £3.2 million from £3.8 million.
PHSC also declared no dividend, down from a total dividend of 2p last year.
Small-cap Sure Ventures closed 3.0% higher.
The venture capital fund, backing early-stage AI, AR and VR, and IoT companies, said net asset value per share at March 31 was 175.79 pence, more than doubled from 82.53p a year earlier. NAV total return was 113% against a negative 31.25% a year prior.
Also, Sure swung to pretax profit of £7.4 million from a £2.5 million loss the year before, as total net income increased to £8.0 million from a £2.1 million loss. It said this was primarily driven by “two key exits” from the Fund I portfolio.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended down 0.4%.
The eurozone’s current account surplus grew by less than anticipated in May, data from the European Central Bank showed.
The single-currency area’s surplus grew to 32.31 billion euros (£28 billion) in May from 18.64 billion euros (£16.16 billion) in April, less than the increase to 34.8 billion euros (£30.2 billion) expected by market consensus cited by FXStreet.
In the 12 months to the end of May, the current account surplus fell to 333 billion euros (£288.7 billion), or 2.1% of eurozone GDP, from 364 billion euros (£315.6 billion) and 2.5% of GDP a year prior. The decline was mostly driven by a shift from a surplus of 34 billion euros (£29.5 billion) to a deficit of 5.0 billion euros (£4.33 billion) for primary income.
Separately, Eurostat reported that annual growth in construction output slowed to 2.9% in May from 4.7% in April.
On a monthly basis, eurozone construction output declined by 1.7% in May, after 4.3% growth in April from March.
The pound was quoted higher at 1.3444 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Friday, compared to 1.3414 dollars on Thursday. The euro stood at 1.1656 dollars, higher against 1.1594 dollars. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was trading slightly lower at 148.44 yen compared to 148.48 yen.
Stocks in New York were mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3%, the S&P 500 index up marginally, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.1%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.42%, narrowing from 4.45%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted unchanged at 4.99%.
The University of Michigan’s index of US consumer sentiment rose to 61.8 in July from 60.7 in June, up 1.8% on the month but still 6.9% lower than the level recorded in July 2024. The reading marked a five-month high but remained 16% below December 2024.
The current economic conditions index climbed to 66.8 from 64.8 in June, a 3.1% monthly gain and a 6.5% increase from a year earlier. However, the index of consumer expectations edged up just 0.9% to 58.6, down 15% on the year.
“Consumers are unlikely to regain their confidence in the economy unless they feel assured that inflation is unlikely to worsen,” said Joanne Hsu, director of the survey. She noted that the recent tax and spending bill had little impact on sentiment, while concerns over trade policy continue to weigh on consumer confidence.
Also, US housing starts rose modestly in June, rebounding from the previous month, but completions slumped to their lowest level since early 2023, according to data released on Friday by the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing & Urban Development.
Privately-owned housing starts increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.32 million in June, up 4.6% from May’s revised figure of 1.26 million. However, the total remained slightly below the June 2024 rate of 1.33 million.
Housing completions tumbled 14.7% from May to 1.31 million, down 24.1% compared to a year earlier. Single-family completions dropped 12.5% to 908,000, and multifamily completions fell to 383,000.
The sharp decline in completions signals continued supply constraints in the housing market, despite a slight pickup in new starts.
Brent oil was quoted at 69.41 dollars (£60.17) a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Friday, up from 68.94 dollars (£59.77) late Thursday.
Gold was quoted higher at 3,352.48 dollars (£2,496.36) an ounce against 3,338.20 dollars (£2485.72).
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were: Rentokil, up 10.3p at 357.3p; Antofagasta, up 47p at 1,868.5p; Intermediate Capital, up 50p at 2,156p; 3i, up 96p at 4,340p; and Whitbread, up 61p at 3,182p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were: GSK, down 65p at 1,348p; Mondi, down 23.3p at 1,144.2p; ConvaTec, down 3.6p at 238p; Informa, down 9.2p at 836.6p; and Croda International, down 31p at 2,846p.
On Monday’s economic calendar, there is an interest rate call from China, consumer inflation from Hong Kong, and Canada’s producer inflation.
Japanese markets will be closed for Marine Day.
On Monday’s UK corporate calendar, Mony Group releases half-year results and Ryanair has its first-quarter report.
Contributed by Alliance News
