FTSE 100 ends five-day slide as oil, UK GDP ease pressure

The FTSE 100 rose 0.45% to 10,656.78 on Friday, ending a five-day slide. The FTSE 250 added 0.36% by late morning. Despite the gain, the index was on track for its largest weekly decline since early July.

Banks led gains: HSBC rose about 1.3% and Barclays about 1.4%. Energy names pared earlier advances as Brent crude retreated; BP fell around 1% and Shell slipped about 0.3%. Energy stocks remained among the week’s top performers after an earlier oil rally.

Brent crude fell about 2.7% to $104.70 a barrel after reports suggested Gulf foreign ministers could meet Iran’s top diplomat in Oman on Monday to discuss temporary shipping arrangements through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil had approached $110 earlier in the week and was still sharply higher on the week.

UK gross domestic product grew 0.4% in July from June and was 1.6% higher than a year earlier, the strongest annual pace since February 2025. Services output rose 0.4% month-on-month, production increased 0.2% and construction advanced 0.1%. Output in computer programming and consultancy rose 3.5%, with several firms reporting activity linked to artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Angeline Ong, senior technical analyst at IG, noted stronger-than-expected growth could give Bank of England hawks more ammunition to argue for another rate increase later this year, even as gilt yields remained elevated.

Traders were watching US consumer inflation data due later in the day. Market pricing put the probability of a 0.25 percentage point Federal Reserve increase next week at about 67%. Thursday’s hotter producer-price readings had pushed bond yields higher and applied pressure to equity markets.

A softer US CPI print could lower yields and extend the relief in London; a hotter reading could bolster calls for tighter US policy and revive the global bond selloff that weighed on the FTSE earlier in the week.

On company news, Applied Nutrition fell about 1.1% after executives sold 7 million shares, equal to 2.8% of the company’s issued capital. Harbour Energy dropped around 2.9% after BASF reduced its stake again.

Investors will watch US inflation data and further developments in oil-market tensions next week.