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Updated at 1553 GMT

By Shubham Batra, Pranav Kashyap and Khushi Singh

April 19 (Reuters) -UK's FTSE 100 rose on Friday after dovish comments from Bank of England Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden on inflation boosted bets on monetary policy easing by the UK central bank in 2024, while Middle East tensions continued to sour sentiment.

Both of Britain's main equity gauges remained in the red for most of the session, but the benchmark FTSE 100 .FTSE rebounded0.2% in the last hour of trading. The midcap FTSE 250 <>FTMC> was down 0.3%.

Still, British stocks had their worst week in three months.

UK's 2-year gilt yields GB2YT=RR dropped to thelowest since April 15 at 4.398% after BoE's Ramsden said on Friday that inflation could hold around the central bank's 2% target for the next three years rather than rise higher later this year as set out in the BoE's most recent forecasts.

Traders now expect the central bank to cut interest rates by 53 basis points, startingin September. 0#BOEWATCH

British paper and packaging group Mondi MNDI.L was the top gainer on FTSE 100, surging 9.3%, as it denied making an offer to buy DS Smith SMDS.L after its UK peer agreed to a 5.8 billion pound deal with International Paper IP.N.

Shares of DS Smith dropped 10.3% to the bottom of the benchmark index.

The pound GBP= wavered against the U.S. dollar and last traded at 1.2405 followingreports of Israel's attack on Iran.

Meanwhile, data showed UK retail sales stagnated in March, the first time sales have not grown in monthly terms since December.

Utilities .FTUB6510 led gains among sectors, rising 1.0%, while construction stocks .FTNMX501010 were the top losers that fell 1.4%.

Man Group EMG.L emerged as the biggest drag on the midcap index, falling 6.6% after the British hedge fund reported higher-than-expected client outflows.

Bookmaker 888 888.L gained 4.8% after reporting first-quarter revenue slightly ahead of its expectations.

Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Varun H K and Richard Chang

 
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