Feb 23 (Reuters) – Britain’s FTSE 100 edged higher at open on Friday, propped by financial stocks following Standard Chartered’s results, though the index was on course for marginal losses in the week as markets digested a raft of mixed earnings updates.
The FTSE 100 index rose 0.2%, as of 0820 GMT.
Standard Chartered PLC jumped 6.4% to the top of FTSE 100 after the Asia-focused bank rewarded shareholders with dividends and a fresh $1 billion buyback as annual profit rose 18%.
The stock powered a 1% rise in British lenders .
The blue chip share index is still on course for a marginal weekly loss on the back of a mixed bag of earnings in the region, with receding bets on early interest rate cuts from global central banks also pouring cold water on market optimism baked in towards the end of last year.
The mid-cap FTSE 250 edged 0.1% lower, led by a 2% fall in the UK’s Domino’s Pizza Group as Barclays downgraded the firm to “equal weight” from “overweight”.
Meanwhile, British consumer sentiment fell for the first time in four months in February as households took a gloomier view of their recent personal finances and the broader economic outlook, according to a survey.
(Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
