London’s FTSE 100 outperformed global peers on Friday as defensive utilities and energy stocks helped offset wider market weakness driven by a sell-off in technology and semiconductor shares.
The blue-chip index closed up 28.13 points, or 0.3%, at 10,600.37. The FTSE 250 fell 111.00 points, or 0.5%, to 23,604.83, snapping a six-day winning streak, although both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 still recorded weekly gains, while the AIM All-Share dropped 0.9% to 759.31.
For the week, both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 gained 1.0%, while AIM lost 0.6%.
Wall Street also traded lower, with the Dow Jones down 0.1%, the S&P 500 falling 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.3%.
Nvidia briefly lost its position as the world’s most valuable company to Apple before regaining some ground. At the London close, Nvidia was valued at around US$4.94 trillion, slightly ahead of Apple at US$4.92 trillion.
Nvidia shares were down 1.5%, having fallen more than 4% earlier in the session, while Apple rose 0.5%.
Brent crude climbed to US$86.53 a barrel from US$84.75 on Thursday as Middle East tensions remained elevated. Gold was broadly flat at US$4,014.29 an ounce.
In London, utility stocks were among the strongest performers. National Grid rose 3.3%, Severn Trent gained 2.9% and SSE climbed 2.4%.
Burberry was the weakest large-cap performer, falling 6.4% after a cautious outlook overshadowed a return to sales growth.
Aston Martin fell 2.4% after saying it regularly reviews its capital structure, including potential financing options.
Smiths News rose 4.5% after announcing new long-term contracts with Frontline and Seymour Distribution.
