The London stock market was expected to take its lead from British economic data this week, notably inflation, unemployment and retail sales figures in the absence of major company results. The FTSE-100 index of leading London shares closed at 5,030.4 points on Friday, up 31 points, 0.62 percent, from the previous week.
Markets will be looking for signs of inflationary pressures after the Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged at 4.75 percent for the 10th month in a row on Thursday, shunning calls by retailers and manufacturers to cut the cost of borrowing because the British economy is cooling.
The main goal of the BoE is to keep annual inflation as close as possible to the government's 2.0 percent target. British 12-month inflation was unchanged at 1.9 percent in April. May's figures were to be published on Tuesday, a day ahead of employment data, and retail sales numbers on Thursday.
Regarding companies, Monday sees the deadline for minority shareholders in Manchester United to accept US tycoon Malcolm Glazer's unconditional offer for the English football club valued at 790.3 million pounds (1.16 billion euros, 1.47 billion dollars).
United fans hit out Friday at reports Glazer has demanded that the club raise tickets by 54 percent to pay for his take-over.
The Times newspaper claims to have seen documents outlining plans to boost United's revenues from 161.5 million pounds this year to 246 million in 2010.
The improved turnover would be funded from three key areas; a 61 percent increase in match day sales, a 13 percent rise in media sales, and 76 percent increase in sales of merchandise and other commercial activities.
Comments
Comments are closed.