Investors on the London stock market were to pore over key British growth data and a clutch of company earnings updates next week. The benchmark FTSE 100 index's direction would also continue to be influenced by external factors such as the eurozone debt crisis and the outlook for the US and Chinese economies, traders said.
The FTSE 100 of leading shares finished at 5,651.77 points on Friday, down 0.25 percent from a week earlier, as stocks were rattled by mounting concern over debt-plagued Spain.
Britain's coalition government was forecast to receive gloomy news ahead of the London Olympics starting next Friday, with official data expected to reveal that country's economy contracted in the second quarter.
The Office for National Statistics was on Wednesday to publish its first estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) for Britain in the April-June period - two days before the Games open in the British capital. Britain's is already in recession after posting two successive quarters of negative GDP output since late 2011.
Next week also sees earnings updates from major British companies, including state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group on Thursday, pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline on Tuesday and Barclays on Friday.
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