London stock market investors will zoom in on a key trading update from British bank Barclays, record-breaking oil prices and the annual conference of Britain's biggest employers' body.
The FTSE 100 index of leading shares finished Friday at 6,262.10 points, down 0.46 percent, or 29.1 points, from a week earlier. Barclays, Britain's third biggest bank, publishes a third-quarter trading update on Tuesday and investors will be looking to see if the group has suffered more fallout from the US housing crisis.
Earlier this month Barclays announced hefty losses linked to the US subprime mortgage crisis and consequent global credit crunch. Barclays said its investment arm, Barclays Capital, took a 1.3-billion-pound (1.8-billion-euro, 2.7-billion-dollar) hit between the start of July and end of October.
But the liability was far less, than had been feared by analysts. Barclays is among a number of major global banks to suffer losses on securities backed by loans to American homebuyers with patchy credit histories. The US subprime crisis has also led to a credit squeeze as commercial banks have turned cautious about lending money to one another. Next week, investors will also keep a close watch over the oil market amid fears that New York crude could smash the barrier of 100 dollars a barrel for the first time.
Record high oil prices above 99 dollars have buffeted world equity markets in recent days amid worries they will dampen economic growth. Meanwhile next Monday and Tuesday, business leaders will descend on London for the Confederation of British Industry's annual gathering.
The powerful lobby group, whose membership includes 80 of the 100 companies listed on the FTSE 100, is expected to call on the British government to ditch controversial taxation reform plans.
Earlier this year, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced plans for a flat-rate tax on assets sold at a profit, which the CBI claims is unfair to small businesses.
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