- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
Pound climbs after Labour's UK election win
The pound advanced Friday after Britain's centre-left Labour Party clinched an expected landslide election victory to end 14 years of right-wing Conservative rule.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index gave up early gains made following news that Keir Starmer would become Britain's new prime minister after Labour trounced Rishi Sunak's Conservatives as Wall Street opened.
Labour's widely forecast triumph has sparked investor hope of economic stability amid easing inflation, although Starmer faces tough challenges in the form of strained public finances, a stretched state health service and flagging economic growth.
"The main beneficiaries of the UK election result were UK housebuilders which gained around 3 percent on the day while banks and energy companies slid," said Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at online trading platform IG.
Paris stocks finished lower ahead of France's crucial legislative vote this weekend despite tactical voting efforts appearing to have reduced the chances of the far right from taking over the government.
Analysts remain wary that the second-biggest economy in the European Union could be headed for a period of political deadlock if there is no overall winner on Sunday.
"After some of the left and centrist candidates pulled out from the elections, the most likely scenario is a hung parliament," noted research consultancy Oxford Economics.
"France will likely enter a period of uncertainty. This would result in policy paralysis, delaying fiscal consolidation and preventing any meaningful reforms until the next presidential election."
- US jobs data -
Investor sentiment had been given a boost Thursday as softer US labour market data gave the Federal Reserve room to cut interest rates.
US job gains eased slightly in June while unemployment edged up, government data showed, in the latest sign that the world's biggest economy is cooling as policymakers hope.
The country added 206,000 jobs last month, said the Labor Department, marking a slower pace of hiring than May's revised 218,000 figure.
But the gains still beat a Briefing.com consensus estimate of 185,000, signalling that the labour market remains relatively resilient.
Wall Street was mixed in morning trading, with activity fairly low as many investors make a long weekend after markets were closed Thursday for the July 4 Independence Day holiday in the United States.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said: "The key takeaway from the report is that labour market conditions are softening, which will provide the Fed some cover to cut rates in September if it so chooses."
He noted market expectations of a rate cut in September rose slightly, while bond yields cooled.
Asian stock markets closed mostly lower Friday, a day after Tokyo's indexes hit record highs.
The yen recovered further against the dollar after this week striking the lowest level in nearly four decades.
- Key figures around 1530 GMT -
New York - Dow: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 39,278.93 points
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 5,549.64
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 18,307.43
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 8,203.93 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.3 percent at 7,675.62 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.1 percent at 18,475.45 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.2 percent at 4,979.39 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 40,912.37 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.0 percent at 17,799.61 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 2,949.93 (close)
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2808 from $1.2765 on Thursday
Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.56 pence from 84.69 pence
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0831 from $1.0813
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 160.67 yen from 161.16 yen
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $84.30 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.3 percent at $87.72 per barrel
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C.Garcia--AMWN