FTSE 100 goes up on dismal retail sales

On Thursday, British equities concluded the trading session up and the UK currency dipped after gloomy UK retail sales generated rumors that the BoE might stay away from increasing interest rates in August.

The FTSE 100 index managed to ascend by 0.1% showing 7,683.97, thus marking a third winning marathon.

The currency pair GBP/USD dived to an intraday minimum of $1.2958, reaching its lowest value since September 2017. A weaker sterling can underpin the FTSE 100 because many of the index’s multinational companies are used to generating most of their sales in other assets.

FTSE’s jump showed up after a gloomy reading on British retail sales in June. Sales headed south about 0.5% month-on-month, thus confounding estimates of a 0.3% ascend. However, the quarterly data came up with a rosier scene, with sales soaring 2.1% in the second quarter, which is the largest soar since February 2015, as the Office for National Statistics pointed out.

The mixed report showed up after June inflation numbers released on Wednesday confounded forecasts, offering 2.4% in contrast with 2.6% as anticipated.

The equities of Shares of WPP PLC WPP went down by 2.9% after the advertising giant’s rival Publicis Groupe SA PUB confounded revenue estimates for the second quarter. Additionally, Publicis equities headed south 8.8%.

SSE PLC SSE headed south 2.4% after the utility company posted core earnings below hopes, telling that warm weather had put pressure on gas demand.

Unilever PLC ULVR tacked on by 3% even after revenue at the consumer goods giant went down in the first half of this year.

Anglo American PLC AAL lost 4.1% following a production update. In general, miners reported losses in London, recording a selloff in metals prices.

The equities of BHP Billiton PLC BLT concluded 1.9% down.

gbp economy stock market