(Reuters) -London shares nudged higher on Friday, led by gains in heavyweight banks and industrials, while investors assessed corporate updates and retail sales data.
As of 1012 GMT, the blue-chip FTSE 100 edged up 0.2% and was on track to log a weekly gain.
The domestically focused FTSE 250 was up 0.3%, but headed towards its second straight weekly decline.
In the market, aerospace and defence companies rose. Babcock and Melrose Industries were up about 2.1% each, while Rolls-Royce added 1.1%.
Industrial miners rose, tracking higher copper prices, with Rio Tinto up 1.5%. Precious metal miners also advanced.
Heavyweight bank stocks gained 0.7%. Top lenders HSBC and Standard Chartered added 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively.
Conversely, consumer staples stocks such as Tesco, Unilever and M&S declined.
Non-life insurers declined 1.2%, dragged down by Admiral Group that fell 2.8%, to the bottom of the FTSE 100, after Peel Hunt downgraded the stock to “sell” from “reduce”.
In corporate updates, Ashmore fell 6.5%, to the bottom of the mid-cap index, after the asset manager reported lower-than-expected fee revenue and a dip in profit in its annual results.
Concerns over Britain’s finances and the government’s ability to keep them under control weighed on the markets earlier this week, briefly sending yields on long-dated government bonds to a 27-year high.
Investors continue to speculate about tax rises that could dampen economic growth, with Britain set to deliver its budget on November 26.
On the data front, retail sales rose more than expected in July, boosted by good weather and the women’s European soccer championship, but annual growth was slower than expected after extensive revisions to previous months’ data.
Investors now await U.S. payrolls data for August, expected at 1230 GMT. Signs of weakness in the report could be crucial for investors who have been pricing in a 25-basis-point Federal Reserve rate cut at its meeting later this month.
(Reporting by Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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