The FTSE 100 carved out gains on Friday with newly-listed Dowlais Group leading the index higher after demerging from Melrose.
London’s leading index was 0.1% higher at the time of writing.
Dowlais was the top riser, jumping over 6%, as investors snapped up the new listing which represents the automotive unit of GKN. GKN was previously a FTSE 100 company before being takeover by Melrose.
“The newly demerged Dowlais, essentially the automotive part of GKN demerged from Melrose, was the top riser on the index of leading UK shares with the shares chugging higher as investors react to the potential opportunities provided by the transition to electric vehicles in the industry it serves,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
Uk-focused investors have little in the way of choice when selecting companies with direct exposure to EV manufacturing and Dowlais will be a welcome option for investors.
Retail sales
Following an increase in unemployment and higher-than-expected inflation data earlier this week, retail sales data released on Friday added to the downbeat picture of the UK economy.
“Retail sales fell 0.9% in March, compared with expectations of a 0.5% drop. Within this disappointing decline is difficult news for department and clothing shops which saw steeper drops,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Retailers have been quick to point out that this was driven by poor weather conditions which discouraged spending in physical locations, but the broader issue runs much deeper than that.”
There was little reaction in the FTSE 100’s retail-focused stocks. Next was 1.4% higher at the time of writing.
FTSE 100 risers
As previously mentioned, Dowlais was the FTSE 100’s top riser on Friday.
There was a plethora of steady gains in stocks that could be considered good bets during an economic downturn. High-yielding Imperial Brands and National Grid were both up in the region of 1.5%.
Smith & Nephew, Rentokil Initial and Pearson all gained in excess of 1%.
FTSE 100 faller
Gains elsewhere in the FTSE 100 were offset by mining companies on Friday as economic uncertainty hit the notoriously cyclical sector.
Rio Tinto was down 4.5% and was at the bottom of the FTSE 100 performance table on Friday.