The FTSE 100 failed to make up any ground on Friday after a week of losses fuelled by US President Donald Trump’s chaotic changes of policy around trade tariffs.
London’s blue-chip index sank three points to finish the day at 8,680, roughly flat.
The Friday performance draws to an end a momentous week for global stock markets, in which investors have tried to assess the impact of US tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.
All the while, Mr Trump has made policy, then reversed it, including temporarily halting tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Thursday for the second time in as many months.
Wall Street’s S&P 500 also suffered a week of losses, down another 1.1% as UK markets were closing, though it was also affected by US jobs data released earlier on Friday. The Dow Jones was down 0.8%.
When asked about the effect his tariffs were having on markets, Mr Trump said: “Well, a lot of them are globalist countries and companies that won’t be doing as well. Because we’re taking back things that have been taken from us many years ago.”
Germany’s Dax index fell 1.8% and France’s Cac 40 dropped 1.1%.
Sterling was up 0.2% against the dollar at 1.2914, while it was 0.4% down against the euro at 1.1900
In company news, Coventry Building Society reported a drop in its annual profits after seeing mortgage costs fall.
The building society, which is the second largest in the UK behind Nationwide, saw mortgage and savings balances grow through the year, but made less income as interest rates were cut.
The building society completed the £780 million acquisition of rival lender Co-op Bank at the start of 2025.
Meanwhile, Royal London said millions of its customers will share payouts totalling £181 million after the investment group grew its yearly profit and saw wage rises boost pension savings.
The company, which offers life insurance, pensions and retirement planning, said 2.3 million customers would benefit from the payout.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were BT, up 7.35p to 159.75p, Vodafone, up 2.68p to 72.28p, Taylor Wimpey, up 3.55p to 113.75p, CocaCola HBC, up 94p to 3456p, and Barratt Redrow, up 10.7p to 426.3p.
The biggest fallers were Melrose Industries, down 64.4p to 492p, Schroders, down 20.8p to 407.4p, Endeavour Mining, down 62p to 1608p, BAE Systems, down 59p to 1574.5p, and Anglo American, down 81p to 2381.5p.
