FTSE 100 Faces Setbacks Despite Anticipation of UK Rate Cut

The UK's FTSE 100 dipped on Friday due to British American Tobacco's settlement in Canada, despite logging weekly gains amid rate cut anticipation. British retail sales rose unexpectedly, and Future PLC saw a 20% plunge after announcing CEO Jon Steinberg's departure, while Dowlais surged after a BNP Paribas upgrade.

The UK's FTSE 100 experienced a decline on Friday, dragged down by the impact of British American Tobacco's settlement to resolve a tobacco lawsuit in Canada. Despite this setback, the blue-chip index managed to record weekly gains fueled by hopes of a UK rate cut in the coming month.

British American Tobacco faced a 3.2% drop following its agreement, alongside Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco, to pay $23.6 billion for a lawsuit settlement in Canada. In contrast, UK-listed precious metal miners rose by 1.7%, mirroring record-high gold prices, while industrial metal miners benefited from China's new stimulus measures, leading to a 1.3% increase in copper prices.

British retail sales defied expectations by rising in September despite consumer concerns over potential tax hikes. The positive movement in UK stock markets this week was driven by Wednesday's data revealing a drop in British inflation to 1.7%, below the BoE's target, reinforcing predictions of a rate cut by the Bank of England on November 7.

(With inputs from agencies.)