BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks were moving lower on Friday after the release of disappointing economic reports.
U.K. retail sales volume dropped 0.3 percent month-on-month, in contrast to the 1.9 percent increase in January, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed. Sales were forecast to climb 0.6 percent.
On a yearly basis, retail sales grew 7.0 percent but slower than the revised 9.4 percent increase logged in January and the expected 7.8 percent rise.
Separately, survey results from the market research group GfK revealed that consumer confidence weakened for the fourth straight month in March as the cost of living crisis deepened.
The consumer confidence index fell to -31 in March from -26 in February. All five components of the index decreased from February.
The benchmark FTSE 100 dropped 20 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,447 after inching up marginally on Thursday.
AstraZeneca was up around 1 percent after the EU's drug watchdog recommended for approval its Covid-19 prevention cocktail.
Smiths Group shares fell nearly 2 percent. The engineering company reported that its first half underlying operating profit from continuing operations increased 11.1 percent.
Go-Ahead Group, a public transport company, surged 6.2 percent. The company announced that its subsidiary Govia Thameslink Railway has won a national rail contract by the Department for Transport to continue to run the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern rail services, with effect from April 1.
Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2022 AFX News
