London close: FTSE 100 ends lower after busy day of economic news

The FTSE 100 ended the week in negative territory as investors sifted through a batch of economic data and weighed developments in China and Greece.

Early in Friday’s session, a report showed UK construction output rose 2.6% year-on-year in June, missing analysts’ estimates for a 3.3% gain.

Eurozone gross domestic product also missed expectations. The EU statistics office said GDP climbed 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and 1.2% year-on-year, short of forecasts for a 0.4% and 1.3% rise respectively.

Separately, Eurozone inflation fell 0.6% on the month in July but rose 0.2% year-on-year, as expected, Eurostat confirmed in its final estimate. Inflation remains well below the European Central Bank’s target of just below 2%.

In the US, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index edged lower in August to reading of 92.9 in August from 93.1 in July, broadly in line with expectations

US industrial production rose 0.6% last month, driven by a 10.6% surge in autos production, according to figures from the Federal Reserve, beating estimates for a 0.3% increase.

PBoC raises reference rate

The People’s Bank of China raised the value of the yuan against the dollar by 0.05% after three days of devaluations. The move came as the Bank tried to soothe the market by promising to work towards a stable currency following a surprise devaluation of almost 2% on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Greek parliament has approved a draft third bailout of about €85bn (£61bn) after a marathon all-night session.

The proposed deal involves tax rises and spending cuts, with negotiators having on Tuesday agreed a budget with a primary deficit of 0.25% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, improving to a 0.5% surplus in 2016, 1.75% in 2017 and a 3.15% surplus in 2018.

The proposal has been put to the Eurogroup for a final decision. European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said he is hopeful of a deal.

Company news

Energy-related stocks, including Royal Dutch Shell and Weir Group, slid as the oil price tumbled with Brent crude down 0.32% to $49.06 per barrel at 1651 BST.

BP slumped on news it could face a $48m fine after a US regulatory judge ruled that the oil giant’s energy traders rigged the natural gas markets in Texas following hurricane Ike in 2008.

Glencore declined after the miner confirmed it has completed the sale of the Tampakan copper project in the Philippines as it sells off assets amid a challenging market.

Vodafone snapped an earlier rise after the company and fellow mobile network Three bought a sizeable piece of UK mobile phone spectrum in an auction of L-band frequency by US-based Qualcomm.

TUI gained after JP Morgan and Jefferies lifted their target price on the stock.

Home builders Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments were both up on the back of new UK government funding aimed at building homes for first-time buyers on brownfield sites.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,172.80 -0.07%
FTSE 100 6,550.74 -0.27%
FTSE 250 17,620.93 +0.14%

FTSE 100 - Risers
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,162.00p +4.31%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,400.00p +2.52%
St James's Place (STJ) 980.00p +1.87%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 653.00p +1.79%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 205.00p +1.79%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,105.00p +1.45%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,709.00p +1.30%
Kingfisher (KGF) 374.50p +1.11%
Sage Group (SGE) 523.50p +1.06%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 177.80p +1.02%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Glencore (GLEN) 172.85p -2.23%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,179.00p -1.83%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,462.00p -1.62%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,200.00p -1.52%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 906.00p -1.36%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,797.00p -1.34%
Old Mutual (OML) 217.50p -1.32%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,402.00p -1.27%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,440.00p -1.10%
Anglo American (AAL) 756.80p -1.06%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Computacenter (CCC) 775.00p +5.30%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 329.30p +2.59%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 489.20p +2.30%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 934.00p +2.19%
Booker Group (BOK) 178.00p +2.01%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 324.90p +2.01%
Just Eat (JE.) 419.50p +1.82%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,075.00p +1.80%
Poundland Group (PLND) 363.30p +1.76%
Derwent London (DLN) 3,760.00p +1.76%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Lonmin (LMI) 37.71p -4.58%
NMC Health (NMC) 786.50p -4.49%
Drax Group (DRX) 311.30p -4.24%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 108.30p -3.13%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 577.50p -2.86%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 149.60p -2.86%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 211.90p -2.57%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,073.00p -2.37%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 827.00p -2.36%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 521.00p -2.25%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Torotrak (TRK) 6.25p +4.08%
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 18.88p +3.42%
NCC Group (NCC) 244.00p +1.99%
Innovation Group (TIG) 34.50p +1.47%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 95.25p +1.06%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 81.00p +0.93%
SDL (SDL) 392.75p +0.71%
Skyepharma (SKP) 276.00p +0.64%
E2V Technologies (E2V) 233.25p +0.54%
Consort Medical (CSRT) 940.50p +0.27%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Filtronic (FTC) 8.62p -11.54%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 8.09p -5.38%
Electronic Data Processing (EDP) 65.25p -3.33%
Triad Group (TRD) 34.50p -2.13%
Sepura (SEPU) 156.50p -2.03%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,675.00p -1.85%
Ricardo (RCDO) 922.50p -1.81%
RM (RM.) 175.00p -1.69%
Promethean World (PRW) 38.75p -0.64%
Dialight (DIA) 551.50p -0.27%