FTSE 100 Slides As Retail Sales Stall In March

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks declined on Friday as Middle East tensions flared up and investors scaled back their expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this year.

Meanwhile, U.K. retail sales came in unchanged on a month-on-month basis in March, defying expectations for a gain.

Retail sales including automotive fuel grew 0.1 percent in the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics. Economists were looking for a 0.3 percent gain for March.

This was the weakest outcome since December, when sales shrunk 3.5 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, retail sales rose 0.8 percent in March after a 0.3 percent fall in February. This marked the biggest gain since March 2022, when sales grew 1.8 percent from the previous year.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 60 points, or 0.8 percent, at 7,818 after rising 0.4 percent the previous day.

In corporate news, Man Group shares slumped 5 percent. The investment management firm reported $1.6 billion of outflows from its funds during the first three months of the year.

Gambling group 888 Holdings rallied 3 percent after backing its full-year targets.