FTSE 100 closes on record high after UK economic growth better than expected

The FTSE 100 continued its weeks-long rally on Friday, closing at an all-time high amid better than expected gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the UK.

London’s blue-chip index closed 52.41 points higher, or 0.63%, at 8,433.76, with finance and industrial stocks among the biggest risers of the day.

Traders were riding high after the UK economy grew by 0.6% in the first quarter of this year, according to Office for National Statistics figures released on Friday morning.

The statistics mean the UK rebounded out of recession between January and March, after It comes after two quarters of decline in the back half of 2023.

It represented the strongest quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 2021, and came in ahead of expectations.

A consensus of economists had predicted a 0.4% improve- ment for the latest quarter. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt hailed the GDP statistics as “proof that the economy is returning to full health’’.

But George Dibb, head of IPPR’s centre for economic justice, stressed it is “too early to say that the British economy has turned a corner’’.

It caps off a week of gains for the index, which was also buoyed on Thursday after Bank of England kept interest rates at 5.25% for another month, but signalled that it was getting closer to being able to cut rates.

Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “It’s Friday afternoon, the sun’s out, and the FTSE 100 has closed at an all-time high - no this is not a dream.