The FTSE 100 ended in the green on Friday, despite a sell-off in US markets and poor Boxing Day footfall among retailers.
London’s blue-chip index rose 12.79 points, or 0.16%, to end the day at 8,149.78.
British Gas-owner Centrica made the biggest share price gain after it announced it has started a £300 million share buyback.
Retailers were in the red, after a slump in footfall for the traditional Boxing Day sales, as fewer shoppers than last year headed out to bag bargains.
Boxing Day shopper footfall was down 7.6% from last year across all UK retail destinations up until 8pm, MRI Software’s OnLocation Footfall Index found.
However, this year’s data had been compared with an unusual spike in footfall as 2023 was the first “proper Christmas” period without Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, an analyst at the retail technology company said.
Shares in the retailer Next fell 2.8%, while Marks & Spencer shares fell 0.81%.
At the end of the day in Europe Frankfurt’s Dax index rose 0.68%, while the Cac 40 in Paris rose 1%.
In New York a little while after markets had closed in Europe the S&P 500 had fallen 1.56%, while the Dow Jones was 1.16% lower.
On currency markets the pound was trading 0.24% up against the dollar at 1.256 and was 0.29% up against the euro at 1.206.
In company news, clothes retailer Quiz has warned it will run out of cash in early 2025 unless it gets more funding.
The struggling retailer said sales had been “disappointing” in the Christmas trading period and that its cash reserves are “less than previously anticipated”.
“As a result, the board anticipates that additional funding will be required by the group in early 2025,” it said.
Shares fell 6.53% on Friday.
Brent Crude Futures were up 0.71% to 73.37 US dollars at the close of trading.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Centrica, up 2.85p to 131.85p, Diageo, up 37.5p to 2535p, BP, up 4.2p to 385.45p, Pearson, up 11.5p to 1290p, and Schroders, up 2.8p to 313.4p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Next, down 256p to 9590p, Pershing Square, down 90p to 3764p, Croda, down 73p to 3379p, easyJet, down 10p to 563.4p, and Anglo American, down 39.5p to 2342p.