Festive boost for retail stocks but index slips up

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respectively, while Primarkowner pushed up 23p to 2,819p.

European markets were also in the red, with Germany’s Dax dropping 0.5 per cent and the Cac 40 in France drifting 0.3 per cent lower.

On the currency markets, traders were grappling with the latest slug of economic data, which showed gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.4 per cent in the final reading for the third quarter.

Among the data releases, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said annual household spending had risen by just one per cent, the lowest rate since 2012.

Business investment grew at 0.5 per cent and, on an annual basis, GDP expanded by 1.7 per cent in the third quarter, an upward revision from 1.5 per cent.

Sterling was down 0.1 per cent at 1.33 against the US dollar shortly after the London market closed, with the pound up 0.1 per cent versus the euro at 1.128.

The price of oil was 0.2 per cent lower at $64.52 a barrel, as traders closed their positions in preparation for the holidays. In UK stocks, betting giant

was the biggest faller on the second tier after sealing a £4 billion takeover of high street bookmaker Ladbrokes Coral.

Under the terms of the takeover, will own around 53.5 per cent of the enlarged group and its chief executive, Kenneth Alexander, would take the reins.

The duo said the combination will result in cost savings of at least £100 million a year.

Shares in dropped 21.5p to 912.5p, while

rose 2.5p to 176.5p. Troubled infrastructure group

showed little movement on the London market despite striking an agreement with its lenders to defer a crucial financial covenant test. Shares were flat at 17.25p as the test date was shifted from December 31 to April 30 next year.

The HS2 contractor said in November it will breach its debt covenants, which resulted in another share price collapse. It also said then annual profits are set to be “materially lower than current market expectations”.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 Index were up 164p to 4,579p, up 113p to 6,833p, up 32p to 2,142p, up 18p to 1,445p.

The biggest fallers were

down 33p to 1,944p, down 4.2p to 260.1p, down 18p to 1,302p,

down

7.5p to 622.5p WALL Street’s major indexes dipped yesterday in low trading volume before the holiday weekend as several blue-chip stocks slipped, including

Nike Inc shares fell 2.3 per cent after the company forecast muted growth in current-quarter revenue, reflecting its struggles in the North American market.

Inc was down 0.8 per cent after the health insurer agreed to buy Chilean healthcare company Banmedica for $2.8 billion.

Investors are winding down ahead of Christmas on Monday, when the market will be closed.

“It’s been a strong week,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia. “Whether the market is up a little bit or down a little bit is not indicative of larger trends ... It’s easy to push things around when not many people are trading.”

Major Wall Street indexes were on track to end the week higher, buoyed by a historic overhaul of the US tax code.

President Donald Trump signed Republicans’ massive $1.5-trillion tax overhaul into law yesterday and also approved a short-term spending bill that averts a possible government shutdown.

The Industrial Average fell 28.23 points to 24,754.06, the lost 1.23 points to 2,683.34 and the

dropped 5.40 points to 6,959.96.

But virtual currency Bitcoin saw a major collapse.