23rd May 2025 12:07
(Alliance News) - European stocks were mixed heading into Friday afternoon, with London's FTSE 100 achieving an unspectacular gain as the week draws to a close.
The FTSE 100 index traded up 7.87 points, 0.1%, at 8,747.13. The FTSE 250 was down just 5.07 points, at 20,794.59, and the AIM All-Share was up 4.65 points, 0.6%, at 741.39.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 871.30, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.1% higher at 18,285.07, and the Cboe Small Companies was 0.8% higher at 16,686.26.
In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.5%, while Frankfurt's DAX 40 rose 0.2%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.53%, narrowing from 4.57% late Thursday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 5.04%, narrowing from 5.08%.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are called to open 0.1% lower.
The US fiscal situation has been a focus this week. In the dying embers of last week, Moody's lowered its US credit rating.
Convera analyst Kevin Ford commented: "This week, two big developments grabbed the market's attention: a disappointing [US] bond auction and the House Republicans' approval of the 'big, beautiful tax bill'.
"The Treasury Department held a routine auction for USD16 billion in newly issued 20-year bonds. These auctions typically don't make headlines, but this one sparked investor concerns about growing uncertainty in US economic policy—particularly whether the market can absorb the refinancing of nearly USD3 trillion in US debt maturing in 2025, much of it short-term."
Ford continued: "Their concerns might be justified, as the auction resulted in a 5.05% yield on the 20-year note, a noticeable increase from the 4.6% average across the last five auctions. While the 20-year bond isn't as liquid as other maturities, the lack of demand raised red flags in the market."
The Republican-led US House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve President Donald Trump's sprawling tax relief and spending cuts mega-bill.
The mammoth package passed along party lines – 215 votes to 214 – after Republican leadership quelled a rebellion on the party's right flank that threatened its passage.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3499 early Friday afternoon, higher than USD1.3425 at the London equities close on Thursday. The euro traded at USD1.1347, up from USD1.1285 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was lower at JPY143.35 versus JPY143.81.
The pound topped the USD1.35 mark on Friday, a threshold it has not breached since February 2022.
UK retail sales surged in April, comfortably beating consensus, on a boost from warm weather and the timing of Easter.
UK retail sales rose at a faster pace than expected last month, as sunshine brought out shoppers, numbers on Friday showed.
Retail sales volumes expanded 1.2% in April from March, numbers from the Office for National Statistics showed. They had risen 0.1% in March from February, an expansion downwardly revised from the initially reported 0.4% climb.
The April reading comfortably topped the FXStreet-cited market consensus, which had pencilled in growth of 0.2%.
"Food store sales volumes grew strongly in April 2025, which retailers attributed to the good weather," the ONS said.
Year-on-year, retail sales surged 5.0% in April, the pace of growth accelerating from 1.9% in March, and beating consensus of 4.5%.
On the London Stock Exchange, miners were among those to boost the FTSE 100.
Miner Antofagasta, on the back of six successive daily declines, added 1.3%. Miners were stronger across the board. Anglo American added 4.1% and Glencore rose 1.3%.
Budget carrier easyJet, which fell 2.6% after half-year results on Thursday, was up 3.8%.
Shell and BP rose 0.4% and 0.8%. The duo had struggled amid oil price weakness on Thursday and Wednesday.
Brent oil was trading at USD64.45 a barrel midday Friday, up against USD64.05 late Thursday. Gold was quoted at USD3,329.05 an ounce, higher than USD3,289.44 on Thursday.
Gold miners were on the up, Endeavour Mining added 1.7% and Hochschild rose 3.4%.
"The precious metal has effectively erased last week's declines, supported by growing concerns over the trajectory of US debt and spending. Investor anxiety increased after the Congressional Budget Office estimated that President Trump's newly passed tax bill could inflate the federal deficit. The legislation, now under Senate review, has led to concerns about long-term fiscal instability," Kudotrade analyst Konstantinos Chrysikos commented.
"Geopolitical tensions continue to provide support for the bullion. Renewed tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East could continue to drive safe-haven asset demand. Meanwhile, trade frictions between Washington and Brussels intensified, as US officials called on the EU to lower tariffs unilaterally. Such a move could lead to the reigniting of trade tensions, making gold a more attractive asset for investors."
Back in London, VH Global Energy Infrastructure surged 13% as it said it plans to start an "asset realisation strategy" in a change to its investment policy after engaging with shareholders.
The London-based investor in energy infrastructure said it has engaged with a "significant proportion" of shareholders over six months, with the majority expressing a desire to return capital through a sale of the company's portfolio of assets.
"Shareholders were rightly cognisant of the balance between expedited returns of capital and damaging the long-term value of the portfolio through untimely sales," the investor noted.
The firm said some assets are in a better position to be sold than others, with some requiring further management "before they can be sold at a value that the board and [fund manager] Victory Hill believe would be acceptable to shareholders".
Benchmark Holdings rose 8.2% on AIM, as it set out returns plans of its own. It plans to delist from AIM in London and Euronext Oslo Growth to save costs.
The Sheffield, England-based aquaculture biotechnology company cited low liquidity and high costs involved in maintaining the admissions on the exchanges, in relation to the size of its group and remaining operations.
Benchmark intends to return the vast majority of the net proceeds from the disposal of its Genetics business to shareholders, amounting to GBP95 million via a combination of a tender offer and a planned special dividend.
Through the tender offer alone, it plans to return up to GBP56.7 million.
Totally slumped 79%. It believes a sale of its subsidiaries is "the only realistic route for the group", as it updates on its ongoing strategic review. However, it warned that there may be no shareholder value and that potential proceeds are "unlikely to be sufficient to meet all future liabilities".
The provider of healthcare and wellbeing services said it has received "a number of offers" for business subsidiaries, which it intends to consider and provide further updates "as soon as possible".
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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