Weaker pound puts FTSE 100 on track for best week in six months
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FTSE 100 up 1.1%, FTSE 250 up 1.0%
Nov 22 (Reuters) -The UK's FTSE 100 was on course for its biggest weekly gain in more than six months on Friday, as a slide in sterling supported companies earning in dollars, while banks came under pressure from weak business activity data.
The FTSE 100 .FTSE rose 1.1% by 1400 GMT, and looked set for a 2.2% weekly rise, its best since May 7.
The pound GBP=D3 tumbled 0.5% to $1.25260 per dollar, its weakest since May, after data showed British business output in November shrank for the first time in more than a year, and retail sales also fell by much more than expected in October.
The currency's decline helped lift shares of UK-listed international firms such as AstraZeneca AZN.L, Unilever ULVR.L and Reckitt Benckiser RKT.L, which draw a major portion of their revenue overseas.
However, banks including Barclays BARC.L, HSBC HSBA.L and Lloyds Banking Group LLOY.L dropped between 0.5% and 3%,weighed down by the gloomy data.
Traders expect the Bank of England to hold interest rates next month, but see more cuts coming next year. They now expect72 basis points of cuts next year, compared with 67 bps a day earlier.
The FTSE 250 midcap index .FTMC rose 1%, on course for modest weekly gains.
Games Workshop GAW.L jumped 16% to an all-time high after the miniature wargame maker's upbeat half-year forecast.
Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath
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