Yahoo Finance FTSE heads higher despite weak UK retail data and Delta fears
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) moved between gains and losses after a positive open in early trade in London following a set of weak UK retail data and warnings about the future of the high street.
Despite the release of pent-up demand after the lifting of coronavirus restrictions the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said the pace of recovery on the high street was slowing and more town centre sites were falling vacant.
Its monthly retail sales monitor showed annual sales growth of 6.4% in July, well down on the three-month average of 14.7%.
The BRC has called for business rates reform in order to ensure the future of bricks-and-mortar retail.
In stock markets, investment management firm Man Group (EMG.L) headed 1% higher shortly after the opening bell as it announced a $100m (£72.16m) share buyback scheme. It was 2.3% higher by the end of the day in London.
There was also a strong trading update from property developer Bellway (BWY.L) which said its housing revenue rose by 41% to over £3.1bn and was only 2.5% below the level achieved in financial year 2019. Shares ticked up 1.5%.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.4% by the close.
Over in Europe, the CAC (^FCHI) and the DAX (^GDAXI) both closed up 0.2%.
US stocks opened in positive territory. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.1%, the Dow (^DJI) was up 0.4% and Nasdaq (^IXIC) declined 0.5% at the close in London.
Analysts pointed to concerns surrounding the Delta variant of COVID-19 as the reason for caution.
"The Dow and S&P 500 retraced from their record highs as bears took control of major indices," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade.
"Having said that, rise in delta cases may be more of temporary issue as vaccination numbers continue to increase in the US and in other parts of the world."
Yesterday, new Labor Department data showed US job vacancies had jumped by 590,000 to 10.1 million on the last day of the month.
That was up from a record 9.5 million openings in May and well above economists' expectations.
Read more: Investors can now get exposure to hot UK fintech Revolut
Overnight in Asia, the Hang Seng (^HSI) gained 1.1%, the SSE Composite was up 0.8% and the Nikkei (^N225) rose 0.2%.
The gains came even as key regions tightened coronavirus restrictions on Delta fears.
Watch: Oil prices drop as Delta variant concerns rise
