(Reuters) -London stocks edged up on Friday with broad-based gains as the United States deferred its decision on whether to get involved in the Middle East conflict to the next two weeks, aiding
UK's FTSE 100 sees first weekly fall in six; Middle East tensions in focus
(Reuters) -Britain's FTSE 100 snapped a five-week winning streak on Friday, closing out a week marred by a wave of global risk aversion amid the conflict between Israel and Iran, while a slew of interest rate verdicts were also assessed.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 dipped 0.2% to hit a more than two-week low, while the midcap index ended 0.4% higher, though with marginal weekly losses.
Drugmakers GSK and AstraZeneca were among the top drags on the FTSE 100, down 2.3% and 1.5% respectively.
Heavyweight energy shares gave back some of their gains from earlier this week as crude oil prices also edged lower. BP lagged with a 2.1% decline.
Oil prices came under pressure as the U.S. imposed new Iran-related sanctions, marking a diplomatic approach that fed hopes of a negotiated agreement.
A week into the conflict, Iran said it would not discuss the future of its nuclear programme while under attack by Israel.
A global risk-off move on tensions in the Middle East bogged down stocks around the world, although the UK's oil-heavy benchmark - down 0.8% for the week - outperformed a 1.5% drop in the Europe-wide STOXX 600.
The week also saw a slew of central bank rate decisions, with both the Bank of England and the U.S. Federal Reserve choosing to hold their rates steady.
Latest data showed UK retail sales saw their sharpest decline since December 2023 while consumer confidence rose to its highest level of 2025.
Among headlining stocks, Berkeley dropped 8.2% after the homebuilder reported results and forecast fiscal 2026 and 2027 profits below market expectations and proposed the appointment of CEO Rob Perrins as executive chair.
Metro Bank added 4% after two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that the bank's biggest shareholder is open to selling his majority stake.
(Reporting by Twesha Dikshit and Shashwat Chauhan; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Louise Heavens)
