By Pranav Kashyap and Nikhil Sharma
(Reuters) -The UK’s FTSE 100 ended lower on Friday, weighed down by British American Tobacco following its settlement to end a tobacco lawsuit in Canada, but the blue-chip index logged weekly gains in anticipation of a UK rate cut next month.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.3% after closing at its strongest level since late May in the previous session, while the domestically focussed FTSE 250 index rose 0.2% to close at a two-week high.
British American Tobacco lost 3.2% after the Dunhill and Lucky Strike maker, along with Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco, agreed to pay $23.6 billion to settle a long-running tobacco lawsuit in Canada.
UK-listed precious metal miners gained 1.7%, in tandem with gold prices that scaled a record high, while industrial metal miners rose 1.3%, as China’s new stimulus measures boosted copper prices. [GOL/][MET/L]
Data showed British retail sales unexpectedly rose in September, contradicting signs that consumers were downbeat about possible tax rises ahead of the new government’s first budget later this month.
Gains this week in UK stock markets were mainly powered by Wednesday’s data that showed British inflation fell to 1.7%, below the BoE’s 2% target, bolstering bets for a rate cut by the Bank of England on Nov. 7.
Traders see an about 87% chance for a 25 basis point rate cut at the BoE’s policy meeting.
Both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 snapped their two-week losing streak, with the FTSE 100 enjoying its best weekly performance in over two months.
Future PLC tumbled nearly 20% to the bottom of midcap index after the publishing firm said CEO Jon Steinberg would step down next year.
Dowlais surged 11.5% after the engineering group was upgraded by BNP Paribas.
Boohoo tanked 8.4% after the struggling online fashion retailer said its CEO John Lyttle would step down as the group announced a strategic review that could see it broken up.
(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema, William Maclean)