Gains turned sour following retail stocks slump

from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also painted a grim picture for UK shoppers, as disposable incomes shrank and the amount set aside for savings hit record lows at the start of the year.

The ONS said real household disposable incomes fell by 1.4 per cent in the first three months of the year, declining for the third quarter in a row.

The savings ratio also sank to 1.7 per cent in the first quarter, down from 3.3 per cent in the final three months of last year and hitting its lowest level since records began more than 50 years ago.

Despite signs that shoppers are raiding money normally earmarked for their nest eggs in order to keep spending, the statistics agency said the UK economy still only grew by 0.2 per cent in the first quarter.

Across Europe, Germany’s Dax was down 0.7 per cent and the Cac 40 in France drifted 0.6 per cent lower.

On the current markets, the pound was broadly flat against greenback - flitting above the $1.30 mark - while sterling skipped 0.3 per cent higher versus the euro at 1.139.

The gloomy GfK report was also keeping a lid on the UK currency’s growth against the US dollar after seeing it surge in recent session following Bank of England Governor Mark Carney’s hint that interest rates could rise.

The price of oil remained on the front on Friday, adding another 1.5 per cent to leave Brent crude sitting at $48.32 a barrel. It marks the sixth session on the bounce that crude prices have climbed, as traders take encouragement that the supply glut could be softening following weaker US oil production.

In UK stocks, the publisher of the Daily Mirror saw shares rise more than three per cent, as it set aside an additional £7.5 million to settle phone-hacking allegations.

Shares in rose 3.3p to 98.3p as the firm also announced that it had secured a five-year print and distribution deal for the Guardian and Observer newspapers from early 2018.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 Index were up 32p to 2,014p, up 36p to 2,396p, up 6.1p to 421.2p, and up 4.4p to 319.2p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 Index were

down 31p to 867.5p, down 120p to 3,856p,

down 5.7p to 247.2p, and

down 7.2p to 333.3p. MAJOR U.S. stock indexes yesterday ended a volatile week on a modestly high note, boosted by well-received quarterly report, with the S&P 500 tallying its best first half of the year since 2013.

shares rose 11 per cent after the world’s largest footwear maker reported a quarterly profit that topped estimates and said it would launch a pilot online sales program with

shares gave the biggest boost to the Dow industrials and the S&P 500.

The S&P technology index ended down 0.1 per cent and posted its first monthly loss of the year, while a decline in biotech shares, which had surged of late, also limited the Nasdaq. Tech has led the S&P 500’s 8.2 per cent rally this year, but its recent pullback suggests investors may be cashing in those profits to rotate to other sectors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 62.6 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 21,349.63, the S&P 500 gained 3.71 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 2,423.41 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.93 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 6,140.42.

Industrials were the top performing sector, rising 0.8 per cent.

With the second quarter coming to a close, the S&P 500 recorded its biggest percentage first-half gain since climbing 12.6 per cent in the first six months of 2013. The Nasdaq posted its biggest first-half gain since 2009.