FTSE 100 Down Nearly 0.5% After Dropping To 1-month Low

(RTTNews) - The UK market's benchmark FTSE 100 dropped to a one-month low on Friday amid renewed worries about AI bubble, and weak retail sales, consumer cofidence and services sector data.

The FTSE 100, which eased to 9,422.85, was down 41.14 points or 0.44% at 9,486.54 a few minutes past noon.

Polar Capital Technology Trust, Antofagasta, Melrose Industries, Fresnillo, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Endeavour Mining, Glencore, JD Sports Fashion and Pershing Square Holdings are down 3 to 5.2%.

Scottish Mortgage, BAE Systems, Halma, BP, WPP, Imperial Brands and Shell are among the other stocks that are down sharply.

Shares of aerospace, defense and nuclear engineering services firm Babcorp International are down 0.7% after the company kept its full-year guidance unchanged.

Persimmon is rising nearly 4%. LSEG is up 3.75%, while Diageo, Relx, Haleon, Experian, Barratt Redrow, Severn Trent, Bunzl, Pearson, Convatec Group and Tesco are gaining 1.5 to 3%.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed UK retail sales declined for the first time in five months in October as consumers delayed their spending in the lead up to Black Friday.

Retail sales fell 1.1% on a monthly basis in October, in contrast to the 0.7% increase in September. This was the first fall in five months and worse than economists' forecast of 0.1% drop.

British consumer confidence deteriorated in November ahead of the upcoming autumn budget, a private survey revealed.

The consumer sentiment index dropped two points to -19 in November, a survey jointly published by GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions showed Friday.

"This is a bleak set of results as we head towards next week's Budget," said Neil Bellamy, Consumer Insights Director at GfK.

"A fall across all five measures suggests the public is bracing for difficult news, with little in the current climate to lift expectations," Bellamy added.

Data from S&P Global showed the S&P Global UK Composite PMI fell to 50.5 in November of 2025 from 52.2 in the previous month, firmly below market expectations of 51.8 to reflect a sharp slowdown in economic activity of the British private sector.

The services sector PMI dropped to 50.5 in November from 52.3 a month earlier, while the manufacturing PMI rose to 50.2 in November from 49.2 in the previous month.