The FTSE 100 was lower heading into the weekend as mining stocks and companies that rely on the UK for revenue weighed on the index.

London’s leading index was down 0.4% at the time of writing and was on the verge of erasing all of this week’s gains.

Mining companies had rallied earlier in the week on hopes of Chinese economic stimulus, but these hopes were dashed overnight by the decision by the Chinese central bank on hold interest rates.

Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and Glencore were among the top fallers, declining between 3.7% and 1.8%, as investors reduced positions in disappointment.

“The FTSE 100 fell after more selling on Wall Street overnight and weakness in Asia as the Bank of China kept rates unchanged. This put pressure on the mining space given heavy Chinese consumption of commodities,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

JD Sports was the top faller after Nike released another set of poor results that raised fears that JD Sports would feel the pinch given that a large proportion of the goods they sell are Nike.

“Among the fallers was JD Sports Fashion as the retailer reacted to weak results from Nike overnight,” Mould explains.

“The US sportswear giant warned the current quarter could see the company absorb a lot of pain as it looks to turn around its fortunes under new CEO Elliott Hill amid signs of slowing demand among American consumers. This overshadowed a better-than-feared showing in the three months to the end of February.”

UK-centric sectors, including banks and housebuilders, also dragged on the index following the Bank of England’s most recent assessment of the economy and news of a deterioration in the UK’s public finances.

“UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, was already in a super-tight spot in terms of the public finances and she’s now facing a further squeeze,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“UK government borrowing jumped above expectations in February, with spending on benefits and investment rising more sharply than forecast. ONS figures show public sector net borrowing came in at £10.7 billion in February, which is £4.2 billion higher than had been forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

“It cements expectations that Rachel Reeves will go further in tightening the public purse by cutting expenditure in the years to come.’

Barclays slipped 3%, and NatWest gave up 0.7%. Lloyds shares fell 1.7%.

Housebuilders Persimmon, Barratt Redrow, and Taylor Wimpey were lower after the Bank of England showed little signs of cutting interest rates.

JD Wetherspoon shares sank on Friday after the pub chain warned increasing taxes would result in substantial cost increases.

The warning overshadowed the reintroduction of a 4p half-year dividend and a 4.8% increase in like-for-like sales and shares were down 9% at the time of writing.

Such are the pressures on JD Wetherspoon, shares are now trading at the lowest levels since 2023.

Today’s warning on rising taxes isn’t the first from JD Wetherspoon or, indeed, the wider industry. But it was the clearest illustration of how damaging the rise in national insurance and staff costs would impact the pub chain.

“Increases in national insurance and labour rates will result in company cost increases of approximately £60 million per annum, which amount to approximately £1,500 per pub, per week,” said Tim Martin, the Chairman of J D Wetherspoon.

There are some bright spots in the group’s update released on Friday, but such a sharp increase in costs poses a real threat to profits going forward. Mark Crouch, market analyst at Etoro, highlighted a pick up in recent trading and pointed to the importance of the upcoming summer trading period as national insurance rises.

“Investors might want to look at JD Wetherspoon’s half year earnings with a glass-half-full perspective, but that might be clutching at straws. After food and drink sales went flat at the tail end of last year, the UK pub operator continues to struggle with rising costs, hindering efforts to regain momentum from 2023,” said Mark Crouch.

“Although like-for-like sales have increased, higher labour costs and increased VAT rates for pubs are smothering the sector. The government’s decision to raise the national minimum wage may grab positive headlines, but the economic impact on businesses like JD Wetherspoon — and potential employees who may miss out as a result — is turning out to be anything but. 

“It wasn’t all bad news, Wetherspoon has reintroduced its interim dividend, which will be welcome news for shareholders. And as summer approaches, the arrival of warmer weather will be crucial to Wetherspoon turning their year around with punters more likely to venture out for a pint, hopefully adding a well needed boost for the pub chain.”

Tim Martin will be praying for a scorching summer this year.

The FTSE 100 was lower on Thursday after the Bank of England kept interest rates on hold at 4.5% and signalled they would take a ‘gradual and careful’ approach to cutting rates in the future.

London’s leading index was trading down 0.2% at the time of writing.

The decision to keep rates on hold was to be expected and had little influence on markets. However, investors may have hoped for a more dovish tone to the accompanying commentary, which suggested inflation was still preventing the BoE from cutting interest rates, despite growing macro threats.

“Monetary policy will need to continue to remain restrictive for sufficiently long until the risks to inflation returning sustainably to the 2% target in the medium term have dissipated further,” the Bank of England said in its Monetary Policy Summary.

The reaction in London was very different from US stocks’ reaction to the Federal Reserve’s overnight instalment, where markets rallied following the Fed’s interest rate decision.

Equity investors were little interested in the Fed’s decision to keep rates on hold and the forecast of just two rate cuts this year. They were more impressed by the Fed’s plan to slow the pace of bond sales in their “quantitative tightening” program.

Indeed, US stocks had the best ‘Fed day’ since July yesterday.

Away from the central bank action, Prudential provided a positive assessment of their recent developments, including a strong outlook and reasonable profits, sending share higher by 1%.

“Asian insurance focused Prudential has not only delivered the profit growth it promised but also exceeded expectations with a stronger-than-expected dividend,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“The Prudential appeal is starting to come through, with Insurance penetration rates in Asia still low and growing demand for long-term savings and protection products. The outlook set a positive tone too, with a 10% jump expected across pretty much every key metric, including the important dividend.”

Pearson was among the top fallers after UBS slashed their price target from 1,580p to 1,460p.

3i was the top faller after announcing sales at its portfolio company Action would grow slower than expected due to IT issues.