British Stocks Finished Higher With Most Of Europe On Holiday

(RTTNews) - The FTSE 100 of the U.K. ended Friday's session with modest gains on a light trading day. The majority of the European markets were closed for the May Day holiday. The Irish stock market was the only other European market open for business. However, the British and Irish markets will be closed for a holiday on Monday.

The FTSE 100 finished higher by 0.36 percent Friday, closing at 6,985.95.

Lloyds Banking Group surged by 7.09 percent, after its first-quarter underlying earnings rose.

Barclays fell by 0.37 percent, after Berenberg downgraded the stock to "Sell" from "Hold."

Prudential declined by 1.04 percent. The company announced that it has named Mike Wells as its new CEO, effective June 1. Wells will succeed Tidjane Thiam, who is leaving to head up Credit Suisse.

Rentokil Initial reported increased revenue for the first quarter. The stock finished higher by 1.64 percent.

Mining stocks turned in a strong performance, after Chinese manufacturing data topped expectations. Anglo American advanced by 5.43 percent and Rio Tinto added 3.88 percent. BHP Billiton climbed by 2.98 percent and Glencore gained 0.77 percent. Antofagasta also finished higher by 1.41 percent.

The manufacturing sector in China continued to barely expand in April, the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.1. That beat expectations for 50.0, and it was unchanged from the March reading.

British manufacturing activity unexpectedly eased sharply to a seven-month low in April amid weaker demand, while central bank data showed that consumer credit grew strongly, suggesting that the fragile economic recovery was largely being led by consumption.

Poor figures for the factory sector coupled with weaker-than-expected first quarter GDP may prove a severe blow to the Conservatives just days ahead of the May 7 election.

The seasonally adjusted Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 51.9 in April from March's 54, which was revised from 54.4. Economists had expected the index to rise to 54.6.

U.K. mortgage approvals unexpectedly declined in March, after rising in the previous three months, data from the Bank of England showed Friday. The number of loan approvals for home purchase fell to 61,341 from a six-month high of 61,523 in February. Economists had expected a higher figure of 62,500.

Economic activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector continued to expand in the month of April, according to a report released by the Institute for Supply Management on Friday, although the index of activity in the sector unexpectedly held steady.

The ISM said its purchasing managers index came in at 51.5 in April, unchanged from the previous month. While a reading above 50 indicates continued growth in the manufacturing sector, economists had expected the index to edge up to 52.0.

Consumer sentiment in the U.S. saw a modest improvement in the month of April, according to a report released by the University of Michigan on Friday. The report said the consumer sentiment index for April came in at 95.9, unrevised from the mid-month reading and up from 93.0 in March. Economists had expected the index to be upwardly revised to 96.0.

Partly reflecting a sharp pullback in spending on residential construction, the Commerce Department released a report Friday morning showing an unexpected decrease in U.S. construction spending in the month of March.

The report said construction spending fell by 0.6 percent to annual rate of $966.6 billion in March from the revised February estimate of $972.9 billion. The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had been expecting construction spending to increase by about 0.5 percent.