FTSE 100 Drifts Lower Despite Strong Retail Sales Data

(RTTNews) - Despite data showing an unexpected jump in retail sales, U.K. stocks weakened on Friday with investors assessing recent policy announcements and inflation outlook from the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.

Oil prices extended recent fall thanks to easing concerns about supply, and this has helped limit market's downside to some extent.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 78.87 points or 0.73% at 10,737.27 a little before noon.

Airtel Africa tanked nearly 10% on reports Airtel Money's owners are considering raising less money than previously sought in the company's initial public offering.

A Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the matter, says the money transfer and payments company's IPO is now expected to raise at least $800m, down from a previously targeted size of $1.5bn to $2bn as reported by Bloomberg in April.

Sources said that Airtel Money is now considering a valuation of $8bn to $9bn to align with technology stock valuations, lower than the $10bn sought previously.

Coca-Cola HBC tumbled 5.5%, while Vodafone Group, BT Group, Next and Entain shed 3.4%-4.3%.

Glencore, JD Sports Fashion, M&G, Metlen Energy & Metals, Investec, Centrica, Prudential, Legal & General, Aviva, BP, Babcock International, Shell, Standard Life and Sainsbury (J) also declined sharply.

Among the gainers, IG Group Holdings moved up nearly 2%. Fresenillo gained 1.8% and AstraZeneca advanced 1.3%.

Persimmon, Lion Finance, Endeavour Mining, Pearson, Scottish Mortgage, British American Tobacco, Spirax Group and Diploma climbed 0.6%-1.1%.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed UK retail sales rebounded unexpectedly in August largely driven by the recovery in non-store retailing. Retail sales grew 0.5% on a monthly basis, offsetting July's 0.5% fall. Sales were expected to drop 0.2%.

Excluding auto fuel, retail sales increased 0.6%, reversing a 0.9% fall in July. Economists had forecast a 0.2% decrease for August.

The ONS said non-store retailers partially recovered from falls in July, with lower sales volumes in July attributed to promotions occurring earlier in June. Department stores also picked up in August.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth doubled to 2.4% from 1.2% in July. This was also stronger than forecast of 1.9%. Likewise, sales excluding auto fuel, registered an annual growth of 2.7%, following a 1.8% rise in the prior month.