London’s top equity index was treading water on Friday despite a strong session for bank stocks, while new official figures showed the UK had a record surplus in public sector finances in January. The FTSE 100 ended the day 3.6 points lower, or 0.04%, at 8,659.37.
NatWest, Standard Chartered, Lloyds and Barclays were among the biggest risers of the day, following a mixed set of full-year financial results released by the lenders in recent days. A weaker session for miners including Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining helped drag the blue-chip index lower.
Meanwhile, new official figures showed there was a public sector net borrowing surplus of £15.4 billion last month, the largest since monthly records began. Government spending nonetheless overshot the predictions of official forecasters, potentially increasing pressure to raise taxes or reduce public spending in the upcoming March fiscal statement.
Sentiment was mixed for investors in other European markets. In Paris, the Cac 40 moved 0.39% higher, while in Frankfurt, the Dax closed 0.23% lower. It was a weak start to trading over in New York, with the S&P 500 down about 0.6%, and Dow Jones 0.9% lower by the time European markets closed.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said it had been another “lacklustre” day of trading for the FTSE 100. “Investors look set to take cues from Wall Street, with the S&P 500 set to fall back further as optimism takes a back seat,” she said.
“The prospect of US trade policy reigniting inflation is front of mind and the unpredictable state of geopolitics is also causing uncertainty.”. The pound was down around 0.2% against the US dollar, at 1.265, and up 0.3% against the euro at 1.21. In company news, Standard Chartered told investors it made a record amount of income last year after benefiting from stronger activity in its wealth and global markets divisions.
This helped lift its pre-tax profit to six billion US dollars (£4.7 billion) for 2024, 18% higher than the previous year. Shares in the bank, which has said it is sharpening its focus on affluent and international banking customers, were 3.8% higher on Friday.
Time Out magazine reported weaker revenues for the second half of last year, down a fifth compared with the same period last year, with economic uncertainty hampering its ability to strike advertising deals. The company nevertheless looked forward to a stronger start to 2025, highlighting a pick-up in activity since the US election in November.
Shares in the business, which now makes most of its money from food markets, closed 1.2% lower after rising during the day. The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Standard Chartered, up 43p to 1,183p, NatWest Group, up 15.7p to 451.8p, Diageo, up 66.5p to 2,190p, ConvaTec, up 6.2p to 247.4p, and BT, up 3.6p to 150.6p.
