March 27 (Reuters) - The UK's FTSE 100 edged lower on Friday as uncertainty around de-escalation of the Middle East conflict persisted, though the index clung to slim weekly gains.
U.S. President Donald Trump extended his deadline to 8 p.m. ET on April 6 (0000 GMT on April 7) for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its energy facilities, after Tehran rejected Washington's 15-point proposal to end the war.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed 0.05% down, while the midcap FTSE 250 fell 1.5% and logged a weekly loss of over 1.7%. However, both indexes were on track for steep monthly losses.
* Most sub-sectors traded in the red, except healthcare thatrose 2%. Positive late-stage trial results for AstraZeneca'sexperimental respiratory treatment sent the drugmaker's sharesup 3.4%. * Precious metal miners also boosted the benchmark index asgold jumped over 3% on dip-buying after a pullback earlier thisweek. [GOL/] * Britain's government and the Bank of England say it is toosoon to judge the economic hit from the Iran war, but the firststrains are appearing and are likely to ring alarm bells forpolicymakers whose response options are more limited than inpast crises. * Official data showed retail sales fell in February afterlogging the strongest growth in a year and a half in January. * British consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level innearly a year in March, a closely watched monthly survey showed,as concerns over the economic fallout from the Iran war and theprospect of sharp price rises kept households on edge. * Lloyds Banking Group fell 2% after Britain's TreasuryCommittee said an IT glitch earlier this month exposed personaldata of nearly half a million bank customers. * Metlen fell 8.6% to the bottom of the benchmark indexafter the Greek energy group delayed its FY25 results.(Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara and Sahal Muhammed)
