A strong performance by retail stocks helped push the FTSE 100 to a higher close on Friday, as the benchmark index celebrated its 30th anniversary.
The FTSE 100 ???rose 0.2% to 6,730.67. Stocks gained across Europe, with the STOXX Europe 600 index ??up 0.6% at 327.64.
Retailers were some of the biggest U.K. movers, with clothing store Next PLC ???gaining 10% after it?raised its full-year pretax profit forecast.
Marks & Spencer Group PLC gained 3.9%. Sports Direct International PLC was up 2%.
Europe’s week ahead: Busy start to 2014
There?s plenty of interest for traders on the eve of the first full trading week of 2014, with central-bank announcements from the ECB and Bank of England, the latest euro-zone inflation data and Christmas trading updates from the U.K.?s biggest retailers.
Department-store firm Debenhams PLC rallied 3.9% after the firm said?Chief Financial Officer Simon Herrick would resign?. Earlier in the week, the firm warned that its profits?may not meet expectations?following a weak holiday season, according to news reports.
Data released Friday underscored continued improvement in the housing sector. Home prices rose 1.4% in December to their?highest levels in over five-and-a-half years. U.K. mortgage approvals in November also rose to a?five-year high. The U.K. construction sector expanded for its?eighth straight month in November.
Meanwhile, retailer House of Fraser was said to be?preparing an initial public offering.
The FTSE 100 became the benchmark index of choice to track the?London Stock Exchange?on January 3, 1984,?according to The Guardian?. It replaced the FTSE 30. The index has witnessed substantial change during its tenure, with only 19 of the original companies remaining on the index.
Source MarketWatch
