FTSE 100 Up Marginally On Earnings, Encouraging Retail Sales Data

(RTTNews) - The UK stock market gained modest ground in positive territory on Friday with weak crude oil prices and data showing an unexpected rise in retail sales in the country aiding sentiment. Some positive corporate updates contributed as well to market's rise.

The benchmark FTSE 100, which advanced to 10,700.94 earlier, was up 16.18 points or 0.15% at 10,655.35 a little over half an hour past noon.

JD Sports Fashion climbed 3%. Weir Group, 3i Group, Pershing Square Holdings, Anglo American Plc, IAG and The Sage Group gained 2%-2.7%.

Computacenter, Croda International, Experian, Smiths Group, ICG, Fresnilo, British Land, Spirax Group and Lion Finance also posted strong gains.

HSBC Holdings moved up nearly 1.5% after the lender agreed to sell its Singapore life and health insurance business to Allianz.

Shares of polymer producer Victrex climbed 2.3% after the company announced some changes in the management.

Shares of customized electronics designer and manufacturer DiscoverIE zoomed 13% after the company announced a 31% surge in orders and reported a 6% jump in sales in the first quarter, compared to a year ago.

Renishaw jumped nearly 5% after the company said it expects annual profit to come in ahead of expectations.

Airtel Africa dropped about 3.7%. BP and Shell shed 1.8% and 1.4%, respectively. Howden Joinery Group, BT Group, Vodafone Group, Marks & Spencer and Rentokil Initial also drifted notably lower.

In economic news, data from the Office for National Statistics showed retail sales in the UK increased 1% in June, following a rise of 1.2% in May. Economists had forecast sales to fall 0.3% in June.

Excluding auto fuel, retail sales rose at a slower pace of 1.1% after climbing 1.2% in the prior month. Sales were forecast to fall 0.4%.

On a yearly basis, retail sales increased 4.2% from the previous year, faster than the 3.5% increase seen in May. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales growth accelerated to 5.4% from 4.9% in May.