FTSE 100 Slips Into Red On Budget Fears

U.K. stocks were moving lower on Friday and the pound euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate held near a two-and-a-half year high after data showed U.K. retail sales logged an unexpected growth in September on higher sales of technology products.

Retail sales grew 0.3 percent on month in September, confounding expectations for a 0.3 percent fall. This marked the third consecutive increase.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 25 points, or 0.3 percent, at 8,360 in the lead-up to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s first budget on October 30, where tax increases and spending cuts amounting to £40 billion are expected.

Luxury brand Burberry jumped 4 percent after the release of retail sales data.
British American Tobacco shares tumbled nearly 3 percent after the company said it aims to settle ongoing lawsuits in Canada through a court-mediated plan.

Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore surged 2-3 percent after China’s major commercial banks cut their deposit rates for a second time this year and the country’s central bank officially launched a swap facility aimed at boosting the equity market.