FTSE 100 Modestly Higher After Paring Early Gains

(RTTNews) - UK stocks retreated after a positive start on Friday as oil prices pared early losses, triggering inflation concerns and possible interest rate hikes by major central banks in the foreseeable future.

Oil prices fell earlier in the day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said U.S. President Donald Trump had requested that there be no further attacks on the Iranian gas field.

Trump suggested that he has no plans to deploy American troops to the Middle East. To increase oil supply and bring down energy prices, U.S. officials said Washington may soon lift sanctions on Iranian oil stranded in tankers.

However, oil pared early losses and moved higher on reports the U.S. President is mulling a forced takeover of Iran's Kharg Island.

The FTSE 100, which advanced to 10,126.51 in early trades, dropped to 10,000.34 around mid morning before recovering to 10,091.05, gaining 27.55 points or 0.27%.

Entain, Metlen Energy & Metals, Pershing Square Holdings, JD Sports Fashion, Melrose Indsutries, Hikma Pharamceuticals, Mondi, Intercontinental Hotels Group and Vodafone Group are up 2%-3.5%.

Among airliners, Easyjet is up 3.5% and IAG is gaining a little over 2%.

Croda International, Standard Chartered, Marks & Spencer, Burberry Group, Fresnillo, Barclays, Prudential, SSE, Land Securities, Airtel Africa, Endeavour Mining, Severn Trent, Compass Group, United Utilities, Segro, Persimman and Tritax Big Box are gaining 1%-1.8%.

Smiths Group is down by about 7.5% after the engineering group's half-year revenue growth fell short of estimates.

British pub chain JD Wetherspoon is down more than 14% after reporting a notable drop in profits in the first half.

Sainsbuary (J) and Babock International are down 1.1% and 1%, respectively. Energy stocks BP and Shell are down 2.8% and 1%, respectively.

In economic news, the UK budget deficit reached the second highest level on record for the month of February, the Office for National Statistics reported Friday.

Public sector net borrowing rose by GBP 2.2 billion to GBP 14.3 billion in February, surpassing the expected level of GBP 8.7 billion.

In the financial year to February, borrowing decreased GBP 11.9 billion from the last year to GBP 125.9 billion, lower than the Office for Budget Responsibility's projection of GBP 127.8 billion for the period.