FTSE 100 rises as miners rebound, JD Sports top gainer

London's FTSE 100 gained on Friday, as mining stocks rose on easing concerns over the Chinese property market, although weak retail sales data showed UK's economy was still reeling from the impact of inflation and supply chain pressures. The blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.4% at 0815 GMT, with mining stocks lifting the index after developer China Evergrande Group made an overdue bond payment easing some concern about a global financial markets fallout.

JD Sports Fashion Plc was the top gainer on the benchmark index, up 2.7%, after announcing its acquisition of Cosmos Sport S.A. British retail sales dropped 0.2% in September, official figures showed, while consumer confidence fell for the third month in a row in October, adding to signs of weakness in the recovery from COVID-19.

A recent statement by the Bank of England's chief economist Huw Pill that inflation could surpass a "very uncomfortable" 5% added to the woes, raising fears of a rate hike amid an economic slowdown. Slowing recovery, supply chain worries, and rate hike fears have capped the gains on the FTSE 100 recently, with the blue-chip index losing nearly 0.3% this week compared with the 0.5% rise among its European peers.

Mining stocks have been the worst performers on the index, down 5.4% this week. "Even if cost pressure problems were to solve in the near term or at the end of winter, we wouldn't expect the industrial metals sector to turn a corner because of China's slowdown meaning less demand for materials," said Thomas Mathews, markets economist at Capital Economics.

The domestically focussed mid-cap index advanced 0.1%. Money transfer company Wise Plc lost 4.7% after the company announced co-founder Taavet Hinrikus would sell about 1.1% of his Class A shares through an accelerated book-building process.

Financial markets infrastructure provider London Stock Exchange Group PLC fell 4.2% on expectations of slower fourth-quarter income growth. Holiday Inn owner IHG reported strong room revenue growth, but its shares dropped 2.4% after analysts pointed to underperformance compared with industry data.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)