Friday preview: Geopolitics, UK retail sales in focus
Investors' focus at the weekend will be squarely on geopolitics.
Heading into the weekend, investors will be trying to gather more information on the magnitude of the Israeli response overnight to Iran's strike a week before.
They will also be monitoring for the response out of Tehran.
Against that backdrop, at 0600 BST the Office for National Statistics will release retail sales data for the month of March.
Across the Channel, the spotlight will be on German producer price figures for March.
No major economic reports were scheduled in the U.S..
Worth noting, G-7 foreign affairs ministers meeting in Italy at the weekend were expected to work towards further sanctions on Iran, which in turn some had hoped would temper Israel's response to Iran's attack.
Friday 19 April
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Thorpe (F.W.)
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)
AGMS
Murray International Trust, Nostrum Oil & Gas , Symphony Environmental Technologies, Uniphar (CDI)
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
GFK Consumer Confidence (00:01)
Retail Sales (07:00)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Heavitree Brewery, Heavitree Brewery 'A' Shares