MARKET REPORT

THE pound recovered some of its losses towards the end of the week after President Trump lashed out at the Federal Reserve.

In an interview with CNBC, the President said he was “not thrilled” about US interest rate hikes in an extraordinary attack on Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell.

During trading on Friday, the pound was up 0.71% against the dollar at 1.310. The lift comes after sterling took a dive on poor retail sales data on Thursday, which left economists divided on whether the Bank of England will raise rates next month.

Further comments made by Mr Trump on trade on Friday afternoon have accelerated the dollar’s decline and contributed to falls on European indices. In a series of tweets, the US president criticised both China and the EU, saying they had been “manipulating their currencies”.

The FTSE 100 closed the session 5.18 points lower at 7,678.79. In Europe, France’s Cac 40 was down 0.36%, while Germany’s Dax was knocked 0.87%.

In UK stocks, hit the halfway point of its major share buyback programme after returning around €3bn (£2.7bn) to investors. The consumer goods giant said it has now completed the first tranche and will launch the second round in order to purchase around €6bn (£5.4bn) worth of shares by year-end. Shares closed the session 31p higher at 4,361.5p.

Shares in fell 8.5p to 549p after the insurer blamed lower investment returns for sending profits down 64% in the first half of the year. The firm said it suffered a significant drop in pre-tax profits from $158.7m (£122m) to $57.5m (£44m) in the six months to June 30.

takeover of ClearScore was in the spotlight as the competition watchdog threatened to launch an investigation into the £275m deal, citing concerns that it could lead to consumers paying more for credit cards and loans.

The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) said on Friday that it was concerned that an enlarged company may be less likely to innovate to help people better understand their finances. Experian’s shares closed flat at 1,933.5p.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were up 14.9p to 506p, up 98p to up

3,960p,

25.5p to 1,083p and

up 18p to 1,098p. The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were down 6.5p to 339.4p, down 15p to 863p, down 27p to 1,615p and down 5.1p to 311.65p.