By Connor Campbell, Financial Analyst for Spreadex
The FTSE’s week-long battle to keep above 7400 looks under threat this Friday after the commodity sector dragged it 30 points lower.
Beyond the miners, with the likes of Anglo American (LON:AAL) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) down more than 1.5%, the FTSE’s main drag was BT (LON:BT). The company suffered a 42% plunge in first quarter pre-tax profit after paying out £225 million to two shareholders – Deutsche Telekom (DE:DTEGn) and Orange – following the Italian accounting scandal that has so far ruined its 2017. This sent BT 2.5% lower, the claim that the payment completed a ‘full and final settlement’ in respect to the issue failing to substantially mitigate the stock’s losses.
The day’s other major earnings statement came from Barclays (LON:BARC). The bank revealed a chunky 13% jump in half year pre-tax profit to £2.34 billion, while signalling the end of its corporate restructuring programme. These gains were soured somewhat by the news that Barclays, like Lloyds (LON:LLOY) earlier in the week, had to set aside a further £700 million to cover PPI claims, however it wasn’t enough to prevent the bank posting a sector-defying 2% rise after the bell.
Over in the eurozone the DAX and CAC continued to suffer under the tyranny of the euro this Friday, the currency rising 0.2% against both the dollar and the pound. The German index fell half a percent to a fresh 3 month low, while the CAC plunged nearly 1% despite a strong 0.5% French Q2 GDP reading.
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