LONDON: UK’s FTSE 100 slipped on Friday, after a five-day rise that paved the way for a strong weekly gain for the benchmark stock index, as abating fears of a likely recession in the United States bolstered investor sentiment.

The globally-focussed FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 0716 GMT. However, it was on track for its biggest weekly gain since early May, owing to a strong recovery in global risk appetite after an early August stocks rout sparked by growing US slowdown fears.

Thursday’s US retail sales data helped allay some of the recent recession fears in the world’s largest economy, helping the UK’s benchmark index to reclaim levels seen before Aug. 2, when a US payrolls data deepened a heavy selloff in risk assets globally.